
Class 6/SZrJ 

Book. 6 t S 

Copyright^? 



COFrtUGHT DEPOSIT 



A Thousand Answers 



TO 



Beekeeping Questions 



BY 

DR. C. C. MILLER 



As answered by him in the columns of the 
American Bee Journal 



COMPILED BY 

MAURICE G. DADANT 



published by 

American Bee Journal 

Hamilton, Illinois 

1917 



Copyright 1917 

by 

Maurice G. Dadant 



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APR -6 !9I7 
©O.A4R7848 

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PREFACE 

IN 1895 there was begun, in the American 
Bee Journal, a department of "Questions and 
Answers," with Doctor C. C. Miller in charge, 
the object being to give information to readers 
on special subjects, perplexing to the beekeeper, 
and not specifically covered by the different bee 
literature. 

In the twenty-two years that Doctor Miller 
has answered these queries of subscribers (he is 
still conducting this department) almost every 
subject in beekeeping has been touched. His 
wide experience, his inimitable style, and the 
clearness with which he writes have made these 
answers invaluable. 

The present volume is a compilation of a 
thousand questions, culled out of many thou- 
sands and arranged in alphabetical order for 
convenience. Its object is not to supplant ex- 
isting text-books on beekeeping, but rather to 
supplement them. 

MAURICE G. DADANT. 



DR. MILLER'S THOUSAND ANSWERS 

Absconding (See also Desertion, Swarms Leaving.) — Q. I hived 
a swarm, and the next day it sailed off to parts unknown. What 
shall I do to prevent such a thing in the future? 

A. The most frequent cause of such desertion is heat. A hive 
unshaded standing out in the boiling sun with a very small en- 
trance and all the rest closed up tight, is a pretty warm place to 
set up housekeeping, and one can hardly blame the newly settled 
family for moving out. 

The remedy is not difficult to imagine. If possible, let the hive 
be in a cool, shady place. A temporary shade, and sprinkling with 
water will serve a good turn. Give plenty of chance for air. 
Some practice leaving the covers of the hives raised an inch or 
so for two or three days. Some give tw r o stories to the swarm, 
taking away the lower story after two or three days. Either of 
these plans provides to some extent against an overheated dwell- 
ing. Some practice giving a frame of brood to the swarm, with 
the idea that the bees will feel that they cannot afford to abandon 
so valuable a piece of property. 

In any case, if all laying queens are clipped no prime swarm 
can abscond unless it joins, or is joined, by some other swarm 
having a queen with whole wings. The queen with clipped wing 
may be lost, but it is better to lose the queen alone than to lose 
both queen and swarm. 

Swarms may abscond, also, if they are secondary or after- 
swarms and the queen has not mated. When she goes out for her 
wedding flight, the swarm may follow her. 

Absorbents. — Q. Which is the better way to fix bees for winter- 
ing out-of-doors, with a tight-fitting cover on the hive, or with 
chaff cushions, or some other porous absorbent material? 

Is there any way to keep the moisture from the bees, and from 
condensing in the hives? If so, how? 

A. If a plain board cover be directly over the bees the moisture 
will condense on it and fall on the cluster; but the moisture will 
not condense so readily on wool, chaff or something of that kind; 
so that it is preferable to the close-fitting board cover. 

Adel Bees. — Q. Is the Adel bee a sort of Carniolan bee, and 



I DR. MILLER S 

can it be kept in an 8-frame hive? What kind of a cross would 
it be? 

A'. There is no such race as Adels. The word "Adel" is a Ger- 
man word which Germans spell "Edel," and the word means noble 
or excellent. So anyone may call his bees Adels, whether they 
are black or yellow; only, of course, it will be a misnomer if ap- 
plied to poor bees. If I understand it correctly, Adels were a 
strain of Italians first, so named by Henry Alley. 

Afterswarms. — Q. My bees swarmed May 31. I put on a super 
that noon, and eleven days later they put off another swarm. 
What was the matter with them? They have not started to build 
in the super yet, and the new bees are still bringing in honey in 
the bottom. What is the reason? 

A. It is the usual thing for bees to send out the second swarm 
about eight days after the prime swarm, and it may be as much 
as sixteen days later. They may also send out a third, fourth 
swarm, or more, and even if they send out only one swarm they 
are not likely soon to do anything in the super, if at all. 

Q. Last spring I bought three colonies of bees from one of the 
neighbors and they all have crooked combs in the brood-chamber. 
He did not use starters, and they are so crooked that I cannot 
take them out of the frames. These same colonies have each 
swarmed three times. The first swarms were large. I hived 
them in new 10-frame hives. The next three swarms were smaller. 
I also hived them in 10-frame hives, and the last three were 
small. As I did not want any more bees, I killed the queens in 
the last three swarms and put them back in the parent hives. 
They did not swarm any more. As I don't want any more swarms, 
how can I prevent them from swarming? 

A. One way of preventing too much increase is to do as you 
did in one case, that is to return the swarm as often as one is- 
sues. But that may be more trouble than you like. Here's an 
easy way to prevent afterswarming: When the prime swarm is 
hived, set it on the stand of the old colony, setting the old hive 
close beside it, facing the same way. A week later move the old 
hive to a new stand 10 feet or more away. That's all; the bees 
will do the rest. For when the hive is moved to a new stand the 
bees will go to the fields just the same as if they had not been 
moved, but when they return, instead of going to their own hive 
they will return to the old stand and join the swarm. That will 
so weaken the mother colony that all thoughts of swarming will 
be given up, especially as no honey will be brought in for a day 
or two after the change of place. If you want to prevent all 



THOUSAND ANSWERS .) 

swarming that's a more difficult matter. Inform yourself thor- 
oughly by means of such a book as Dadant's Langstroth, and you 





Fig. 1. Afterswarms many times are accompanied by several queens and 
cluster as above. 

will be in a better position to know what plan is best for you. 
My book, "Fifty Years Among the Bees," is especially full as to 



4 DR. MILLER S 

the matter of hindering swarming. But I must confess that I 
have not been able to prevent all swarming to my entire satisfac- 
tion. It may be some help to say that if you succeed in getting 
a young queen reared in a colony and get her to laying, that 
colony is practically certain not to swarm the same season. 

Q. In preventing afterswarms, by placing the young swarm on 
the old stand and taking the old colony to a new place, should 
all the queen-cells except the ripest one be cut out at once? 

A. That's one way. There's a better way. Set the swarm on 
the old stand, the old hive close beside it, without cutting out any 
queen-cells, and let stand for a week. Then move the old hive 
to a new stand, and the bees will do the rest. You see, when the 
old hive is moved at that time all the field-bees will leave it and 
join the swarm. That will weaken the old colony, and added to 
that is the fact that no honey will be coming in, so the bees will 
conclude they cannot afford to swarm, and all the extra queen- 
cells will be killed without your opening the hive. 

Q. Can an afterswarm be returned to the parent hive? If so, 
how shall I proceed? 

A. The easiest thing in the world. Just dump the swarm 
down in front of the hive and let them run in. It was the old- 
fashioned way of treating afterswarms, and there's no better way, 
if you don't mind the trouble. Just return the bees every time 
they swarm out, and when all the queens have emerged there 
will be only one left, and there will be no more swarming. Indeed, 
you may carry the plan still farther, returning the prime swarm 
and all the afterswarms. That will give you no increase, but the 
largest yield of honey, especially if your harvest is early. 

Hiving the swarm in an empty box and returning it to the 
parent colony the next day is still better, as the swarming excite- 
ment is over. 

Q. Do afterswarms come out only when the old hive remains 
on the old stand? 

Do they always fail to come out when the old hive is put in a 
new location? 

A. Afterswarms are likely to issue if the old hive is left on 
the old stand, and are less likely to if the old hive at the time of 
swarming is removed to a new place; but may issue then. If the 
swarm is put on the old stand, the old hive close beside it, and 
then a week later the old hive removed to a new place, you may 
count quite safely on no afterswarms. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 3 

Age of Bees. — Q. What is the average life of a queen, drone, 
and worker bee? 

A. A queen, perhaps 2 years; a worker, 6 weeks in the work- 
ing season ; a drone, until the workers drive it out. 

Q. I have heard a great many say, bees live only 30 days. 
What do you think about it? 

A. Worker-bees live several months if born late in the sea- 
son ; for they live over winter and until new ones are ready to 
take their place in the spring. Those that are born after the 
busy season begins in the summer, live 5 or 6 weeks. 

Albinos. — Q. In my bee-book I did not find anything stating 
the difference between an albino and another race of bees. Is 
there anything peculiar about albinos? 

A. Albinos among bees are somewhat like albinos of the 
human race or other animals ; there is a deficiency of coloring 
pigment. This is accompanied by aveakness in other respects; 
although some have reported albino bees that were good. I have 
seen nothing about albinos for several years, and don't know 
where you could find them. 

Alfalfa. — Q. Does alfalfa yield honey in the east? I have 
seen it stated several times in prominent farm journals that al- 
falfa gives no nectar in the east. 

A. I think the rule is that east of the Mississippi River alfalfa 
never yields any nectar to speak of. Alfalfa grows finely on my 
place, and occasionally I have seen a few bees on the blossoms, 
but never to amount to anything, and I think this is generally 
so east of the Mississippi. Seems to me, however, that a more 
favorable report has been made by some one in Wisconsin or 
New York. 

Q. What is the flavor of alfalfa honey? 

A. Alfalfa honey is of very mild flavor, milder than clover. 

Alley Method. — Q. Where could I get Alley's book on queen- 
rearing? 

A. It is out of print, but you will find the Alley queen-rearing 
method in "The Hive and Honey Bee," latest edition. 

Ants. — Q. I have six colonies of bees. The smaller ones are 
bothered with large, black ants. Is there any way of stopping 
them? 

A. Ants annoy the bee-keeper rather than the bees. It is 
decidedly annoying to have them crawling over the hands and 



O DR. MILLER S 

biting. Yet it may be well to add that there are ants and ants. 
Go far enough South and you may find ants that will destroy a 
colony sometimes in short order. Even in the North there is a 
kind to be dreaded. You say yours are "large black ants." Most 
likely that means ants that are a quarter of an inch or so in 
length, which are large in comparison with little red ants. But 
if you have the big wood ants that are three-quarters of an inch 
long, then that's another story. I've had no little trouble with 
them and they are hard to combat. They get between the bottom- 
board and board on which it rests, and honey-comb the bottom- 
board. Sometimes there will be merely a shell left, so that you will 
hardly notice anything wrong, yet a little touch when hauling 
bees might break through a hole to let the bees out. Carbolic 
acid may do something toward driving them away. You may also 
poison them. Take two pieces of section, or, perhaps, better 
still, two thin boards 4 inches square, or larger, fasten upon each 
end of one of them a cleat one-eighth inch thick, and lay or fasten 
the other on it, thus leaving a space of one-eighth inch between 
the two boards. Mix arsenic in honey and put between the 
boards. The bees cannot get into so small a space, but the ants 
can. Or, put poison in a box covered with wire-cloth that will 
let the ants in but keep the bees out. 

Q. How can I rid my apiary of red ants? They build their 
hills near and sometimes directly under the hives and crawl into 
the hives and kill the bees. 

A. Have four feet to the hive, each foot standing in a vessel 
of oil or water. Find the nest of the ants, with crowbar make a 
hole in the nest and pour in carbon disulfide. Have no fire near, 
as the disulfide is explosive. Gasoline will also answer pretty 
well. 

Apiary. — Q. How many colonies of bees can be kept in one 
apiary? 

A. That depends upon the pasturage within a mile or two. In 
most places not more than 75 or 100. 

Q. My bees have at least 300 acres of clover and alfalfa 
within two miles. How many colonies can I pasture to be safe? 

A. That's one of the very hard things to say. You don't say 
whether red or white clover. If you mean red, it probably 
doesn't count for much, while white clover counts heavily in 
good years, although some years it blooms a plenty and yet yields 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 7 

no nectar. If you had said 300 acres of white clover, meaning 300 
acres solidly occupied with white clover, I should guess 200 
colonies might get good picking. Alfalfa varies more. If it is 
all used for raising seed, then it probably counts as much as white 
clover. If used for hay, it counts for less, and may count for 
nothing, depending upon the times when the hay is cut. If always 
cut just before it blooms, then it counts for nothing; if cut when 




Fig. 2. A good location, a south-east slope with windbreak of natural shrubbery. 



in full bloom, it may count perhaps on being enough for 100 
colonies. You will easily see that, as you state it, the whole 
thing is a varying problem. It may be mostly white clover, or 
it may be mostly alfalfa, and the alfalfa may be treated so differ- 
ently as to make a big difference in the amount of nectar got 
from it. 

Q. Is a lawn sloping to the north a good location for bees? 
The entrances to face the north, and no shade? 

A. You will probably find that it will, not make very much 
difference whether the slope and the aspect are toward the north 
or south during most of the year. Sometimes your north slope 



8 DR. MILLER S 

will be the better one, and sometimes the south. In cool days 
the southern exposure will generally be better, and in the hottest 
days the northern. In winter there will be days when soft snow 
is on the ground and the sun shining brightly to entice the bees 
out to a chilly tomb, and on such days the northern aspect will 
be better. There will be other days in winter when the weather 
and all conditions are favorable for a cleansing flight, and then 
the southern slope will be better. That cleansing flight is a mat- 
ter of such importance that on the whole it is better to have the 
southern slope for wintering. This refers, of course, to locations 
far enough north to make a winter flight an infrequent occur- 
rence. If your bees are wintered in the cellar, it will probably 
be a toss up which way is better. 

Apifuge. — Q. I read in my bee-book about apifuge. What is 
it? Will it really keep bees from stinging? 

A. Apifuge is the name of some combination of drugs, which 
combination is not made public, and is made, advertised and sold 
in England. I don't remember its being advertised or used on 
this side. It probably helps to prevent stings. I have seen it 
claimed that oil of wintergreen rubbed on the hands would pre- 
vent stinging. 

Associations, Bee. — Q. Where is my nearest bee-association, 
and what are the annual dues? 

A. The secretaries of associations change nearly every year. 
Write the publishers of your bee journal for information. 

Baits. — Q. What do you mean by baiting to get the bees to 
work? Do you put in sections partly filled with honey? 

A. Sections that are only partly rilled are emptied of their 
honey by the bees in the fall, and the next year one or more of 
these are put into the first super to start the bees. Such sections 
are called bait-sections, or baits. 

Q. In putting bait-sections, or sections partly filled with comb, 
into supers when you put them on at the beginning of the season, 
wouldn't the super be filled better, that is, wouldn't all of the sec- 
tions be more likely to be completed at the same time, if the bait- 
sections were put at the outside of the super? Wouldn't it be 
just as effective in getting the bees to go up and begin storing 
honey in the super? Or, one might have one bait-section in the 
middle and the rest on the outside. 

A. Your views are all right. Bees will start soonest on a cen- 
tral bait; but if more than one in a super, put them in the corners, 
or at least outside. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 9 

Baits for Swarms. — Q. A neighbor places common boxes up 
in trees and catches stray swarms. Is there anything a person 
can put in a hive that will bait a swarm to the box placed in a 
tree? 

A. Yes, you can put brood-combs in it. If the combs have been 
used but are still sweet and clean the bees will like them better 
than any empty hive. 

Banats. — Q. Is the Banat bee a new race of bees brought 
from some other country, or is it just a cross with some of our 
native bees? Would they be hardy enough for Minnesota? 

A. It is counted a separate race. I know very little about them, 
but I suppose they are equally as hardy as Italians, and perhaps 
as good workers. 

Barrels. — Q. Where can I obtain barrels for extracted honey? 

A. Second-hand alcohol or syrup barrels are best and could 
probably be obtained from drug stores, groceries and wholesale 
medicine firms. 

Basswood. — Q. (a) I have just ordered some basswood trees. 
How close can I plant them together? 

(b) Will they grow well in this climate ; that is, hot and 
dry in the summer-time, subject to strong winds in winter, no 
snow, and temperature never falling very low? 

(c) How long will it be before they yield nectar to amount 
to anything? 

(d) How much water do they need when growing? (Cali- 
fornia.) 

A. (a) When they get to be large trees, 20 to 25 feet is 
close enough. It is not a bad plan to plant only half as far apart 
as you want the trees finally; then when half grown, to cut out 
three-fourths of them. The danger is that you will be too tender- 
hearted to cut them at the right time; but you will not have so 
much nectar from the large trees that are too crowded. You will 
easily see, however, that up to the time they get half their full 
growth there would be a gain in nectar by having the larger 
number of trees. 

(b) I don't know. One would think that conditions are all 
right; yet I don't remember that anyone has reported planting 
basswoods on a large scale in California. 

(c) Not before 8 to 12 years in this locality; but things move 
faster in your pushing climate. 

(d) At a guess, I should say the same amount as crops in 
general, particularly other trees. 



10 DR. MILLER'S 

Q. How long does basswood bloom last and what time does 
it generally begin in Northern Iowa? 

A. It probably begins in Northern Iowa not far from the same 
time as here, somewhere in the first part of July, and lasts 10 days 
or so. 

Beebread. — Q. (a) Can bees live without beebread in the 
winter-time? 

(b) Can they live on beebread a week or two without honey? 

A. (a) Yes, but they must have it in the spring, so they can 
rear brood. 

(b) I think not. 

Bee-Cellar (See Cellar.) 

Bee-Culture — Most Important Thing in. — Q. What do you con- 

</*,/**. <^^ fatten 

Fig. 3. The most important thing in beekeeping is the Queen. 

sider the most important thing in all bee-culture, if you consider 
one of any more importance than the rest? 

A. A thorough knowledge of everything connected with the 
business. Perhaps you want to know which is the most impor- 
tant, the bees, pasturage, hive, or some other thing. Hard to say. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 11 

Bees are no good without pasturage, and pasturage is no good 
without* bees. You can't very well get along without a hive. But 
if you insist that I must pick out some one thing to which the 
beekeeper must give the greatest attention, I think I would say 
the queen. For whatever the queen is, that decides what the 
bees are. By breeding for the best all the time, a man is more 
likely to get ahead than by giving his attention to something else, 
such as hives or pasturage. 

Bees, Cross. — Q. I have a colony of bees that is very cross, and 
one that is very tame. How could I introduce a queen from the 
tame colony to the cross one so as to make them all tame? And 
at what time ought I do it? 

A. Rear a queen from the better stock, kill the objectionable 
queen, and introduce the new queen in an introducing cage. Or 
you may do the other way. Take two or three frames of brood 
from the good colony, put them in an empty hive, fill out with 
empty combs or frames filled with foundation, and set this on the 
stand of the bad colony, moving the bad colony to a new place 
close by. Now lift out two or three frames from the bad colony 
(be sure you don't get the queen), and shake the bees from these 
frames into your new hive, returning to the bad colony its two 
frames of brood. In two or three weeks there ought to be 
a queen laying in your new hive. You can strengthen it by ad- 
ding brood and bees from the bad hive, or you can unite with it 
all of the bees and brood, killing the bad queen two or three days 
before uniting. Pehaps you would like to have two colonies in- 
stead of one. In that case kill the bad queen a week after the 
first move, and two or three days later exchange one of the two 
frames in your new hive for one of the frames in the bad hive, 
making sure there is a queen-cell on the frame, and also on the 
frame you leave. 

Bee-Escapes. — Q. When you have on more than one super how 
would you put a. bee-escape under? Would you lift the supers 
one at a time and put them on a bench, and then, after the escape 
is on, put them back? 

A. If there are two or more supers on the hive you are not 
likely to want to take all off at a time unless at the close of the 
season. So lift off supers until all are off that are ready to take, 
setting them on end on the ground, leaning against their hive, or 
perhaps setting them on top of an adjoining hive. Then return 
any that are not ready yet, put on the escape, and then the super 
or supers that are ready to take. 



12 DR. MILLER'S 

Q. Does the Porter bee-escape ever get clogged up with bees 
trying to carry out dead bees, larvae, etc? 

A. Yes, although there is not much chance for it. Dead bees 
are not likely to be in supers, neither is brood often present. 

Q. Will queens and drones pass easily through the Porter bee- 
escapes? 

A. Not nearly so easily as the workers. 

Bee-Houses. — Q. I propose to build a bee-house in the spring, 
for protection against too hot summers and the cold months of 
winter. Our summers are not long, but sometimes very hot; the 
winters short and not very cold, occasionally in winter the ther- 
mometer will fall as low as 15 degrees above zero. Kindly give 
your advice on this question, also the advantage or disadvantage. 

A. Bee-houses, such as you contemplate, were more or less in 
use some years ago, but have been mostly abandoned. They have 
the advantage that when the bees are handled in summer they 
will not sting so much as out doors, and they are safer from 
thieves. But they are hot and inconvenient for the beekeeper. 
In spite of the fact one does not generally relish advice against 
one's own inventions, I advise you to let the bee-houses alone. 

Bee Hunting. — Q. How can I find bees out in the woods? 

A. Set your bait and watch the direction the bees go when 
they leave it. Then move your bait in that direction, and try 
again. Keep on till you find that the bees go back in the oppo- 
site direction, and then you'll know you've passed the right place, 
and you can bait back nearer to it; all the while keep close watch 
on the trees to see or hear the bees flying in or out. Another way 
is to cross-line. After watching the direction the bees take, in- 
stead of moving directly in that line, move at right angles to it 
and watch the line the bees make. Now guess about where the 
point would be where these two lines cross, and try accordingly. 

Q. (a) What kind of bait is the best for lining bees in the 
woods? 

(b) How can I set it so the bees will scent it? 

A. (a) Honey diluted with water, perhaps half and half. Some 
make a smudge by burning, and some flavor the bait with anise. 
Some make a smudge by burning old combs. 

(b) Set it out in the open in the woods where the bees are 
prospecting. 

Q. (a) What is a good way to hive a large swarm of bees 
from a bee-tree? The small entrance is about 20 feet from the 
ground, and the tree is too valuable to be cut. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 13 

(b) When is the best time? 

A. (a) I have some doubt whether there is any way by which 
you can get those bees into a hive — provided the tree is not to be 
cut — without costing more trouble and labor than the bees are 
worth. Possibly you might smoke 'em out, if you can in some way 
secure footing enough to operate so high up in the air. The first 
thing is to decide as nearly as you can where the colony is lo- 
cated with reference to the entrance, for I take it from what you 
say that there is only one entrance. That may be at the top of the 
cavity, at the bottom, or somewhere between. With your ear 
against the tree, listen to the noise of the bees when you pound 
upon the tree, and you may be able to locate them. If the en- 
trance be at the top, or near the top, then make another hole at 
the bottom; otherwise make a hole at the top of the cavity. Then 
into the lower of the two holes send something whose odor will 
drive the bees out of the upper hole; carbolic acid, tobacco smoke, 
etc. Even ordinary wood smoke from a smoker may suffice if per- 
sisted in. As soon as the bees are out., plug the holes so they 
cannot return, and then treat them as a swarm. 

(b) If you want to save the bees, a good time is not later than 
fruit bloom. If you want merely to get the honey, take it at the 
close of the honey-flow. 

Bee Martins. — Q. Do martins seriously bother bees? If so, 
would they prove a handicap to a person who is just starting bee- 
keeping in a community where there are a great many of these 
birds? 

A. I have never heard that martins were seriously trouble- 
some to bees. 

Beemoth. — Q. How does the beemoth get a start? It seems 
to start after combs are taken off the hive. 

A. The beginning is an egg laid by the beemoth, and this 
hatches out into the larva, or "worm," as it is commonly called, 
in which state it does its mischief in destroying honey combs, 
after which it changes into the moth. 

The trouble seems, as you think, to be worse off than on the 
hive, because off the hive there are no bees to protect the combs, 
although the eggs are generally laid on the combs while they are 
still in the care of the bees. It seems strange that the bees will 
allow moths to lay their eggs in the hive, but they do. At least 
black bees do, to some extent, although Italians seldom allow it. 

Q. What can I do for worms in bees? 



14 



DR. MILLER S 



A. The best remedy for wax-worms, as the larvae of the bee- 
moth are called, is a big lot of bees. The worms are not likely to 
get much of a start in a rousing colony, but a weak, discouraged 
colony is their proper prey. If your bees are blacks, you will find 
that changing to Italian blood will be a great help. Indeed, a 
colony of good Italian blood, even if quite weak, will keep the 
worms at bay. 

If the worms have made a fair start, it may be worth while 




Fig. 4. Tunnels of the moth in a brood-comb. 



to give the bees some help. At least you can dig out the big fel- 
lows. Take a wire nail and dig a hole into one end of the gallery 
that the worm has built. Now start at the other end, and as you 
dig the gallery open the worm will crawl along and come out of 
the hole you first made, when you can dispatch it. 

Q. How early in spring will the wax-worm begin its destruc- 
tive work on combs stored in the honey-house? 

A. Something depends upon the character of the honey- 
house. It needs considerable warmth for the favorable develop- 
ment of the miscreants, and if your honey-house is a warm place 
you may expect them to flourish by the first of May. Otherwise 
not till the last of the month. In a cool cellar there will be little 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 15 

trouble before the combs are needed for swarms. Of course, if 
the weather is warm their work will be earlier than when there 
is a cool spring. Moths cannot winter in a house where it 
freezes hard. 

Q. Do bees carry moths while swarming? 

A. I don't believe that bees ever carry with them the moth, 
its larvae, or its eggs. 

Q. (a) I had two weak colonies which I was going to unite, 
but found a weavy web on the combs and in them a handful of 
small worms. Those on the comb were about three to the inch in 
length, and not a live bee to be found, and no honey. The worms 
resembled cut worms. 

(b) Is that comb of any use to put in other hives? 

(c) How did the worms get in the hive without the bees de- 
stroying them? 

A. (a) The worms were the larvae of the beemoth. 

(b) Yes, unless too much of it is destroyed. 

(c) Eggs were laid in the hive by the moth, and from these 
eggs worms were hatched. The colony must have been weak and 
like enough queenless. 

Q. I have a lot of honeycombs that I will have to keep 
through the summer months. What is the best remedy to keep 
the moths out of them? I have them packed closely in a chest. 
Will fumigating them with sulphur do, or is bi-sulphide of carbon 
the best? 

A. Sulphur will do, but it takes a gread deal of it to finish the 
big worms, and it does not kill the eggs, so that it must be used 
again two weeks later to kill the worms that have hatched out 
from the eggs that were left. Carbon disulfide (which is the 
later name of bisulphide of carbon) acts more vigorously, and at 
one operation cleans up big and little, eggs and all. After you 
have the worms all killed you must keep the combs where the 
moth cannot get at them. 

On the whole, it is nicer to give such combs to the bees. They 
will clean them up and keep them in nice condition. You can fill 
a hive-body with them and put it under a colony, so that the bees 
must pass through in going out or in. 

Q. I have a number of frames which look very ragged on ac- 
count of moth ravages, some in which more than half of the comb 
is gone. Will the bees repair this and fill out the frames again 
if I give them to the bees next spring? Or would I better cut 
out all this comb and put in new foundation? 

A. If the comb is in good condition except for the ravages 



16 



DR. MILLER S 



of the moth, it's good property, and it is well worth your while to 
keep it to give the bees again. Something, however, depends 
upon how the bees fill out the vacancies in the combs. If they 
fill them up with drone-comb you might better melt up the combs 




Fig. 5. What remains of a comb devastated by beemoth. 

and give foundation. If given to a strong colony in a flourishing 
condition you can count on a lot of drone-comb; if given to a nu- 
cleus, or to a swarm when first hived, you may count on worker- 
comb. 

Q. If I brush the bees from my section honey and put it in 
folding cartons, such as are listed in supply catalogs, right in the 
bee-yard, will I be bothered with the beemoth in my honey, and 
will this not save trouble in fumigating? Of course, this honey 
will be well sealed before putting in cartons. 

A. No, you can't trust to anything of the kind. Years ago, 
if I took off sections and kept them where no moth could touch 
them, within two weeks tiny worms would appear here and there. 
The only way I could understand it was that the moth must have 
gotten inside the hive and laid the eggs on the sections. Of late 
years I have no trouble of the kind, probably because of the 
Italian blood. With black bees I had a good deal of trouble, and 
fumigated with sulphur. Carbon disulfide may be better. 

Bee-Paralysis. — Q. Two of my colonies are killing what 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 17 

seems to be old bees. They turn black, and are driven out. The 
brood seems to be all right. I had one colony affected the same 
way last year that became all right. I would like to know the 
cause and cure, if any. I have over 100 colonies, but never saw 
anything like it before. 

A. The probability is that it is a case of bee-paralysis. The 
bees are black and shiny from losing their plumage. They come 
out of the hive and jump around on the ground, generally with 
bodies somewhat distended, and there is a peculiar trembling mo- 
tion of the wings. The sound bees appear to pester and drive 
the sick ones. As far north as you are, it is doubtful if you need 
pay any attention to it. I've had several cases of the disease, and 
never did anything for it and the disease disappeared of itself. 
Far enough south it becomes a terror, and although many cures 
have been offered they generally fail to effect a cure. O. O. Pop- 
pleton says he cures by sprinkling sulphur over the bees and 
comb. Texas beekeepers of late claim that excessive dampness 
in the hive is the prime cause. They practice shaking the bees 
onto perfectly dry combs in a dry hive. 

Q .Will camphor prevent bee-paralysis if I put a small piece 
in the hive? 

A. It will probably have no effect whatever. 

Bees, Best Strain. — Q . What is the best bee for this country, 
the Buckeye strain, 3-banded, golden Italian or leather colored? 

A. There are good bees of almost all kinds; the majority of 
beekeepers probably prefer the 3-banded leather colored Italians. 

Bees Dying. — Q. What ails my bees? Quite a number of them 
are dead or dying. One day when the snow was on the ground I 
saw dead bees on the snow. While I was there a bee came flying 
out of the hive, lit on the snow and was frozen; it was zero 
weather. I have a box set over the hive; the front side is open. 
They are not packed. The entrance of the hive is wide open, and 
they have plenty of honey to winter on, with nothing to disturb 
them. They are Italian bees. 

A. There may be nothing wrong at all; depends upon what 
is meant by "quite a number." In a strong colony it is nothing 
strange if a thousand bees die off in the course of the winter; 
and when the sun is shining upon the white snow it is not alarm- 
ing to see a bee fly out to meet its death in the snow. 

Q. What is the cause of a colony of bees dying in the winter 
with plenty of honey in the hive? It seemed to be in good shape 
when it went into winter quarters. 

A. It may be that the cluster of bees was in the center with 



18 DR. MILLER'S 

honey on both sides; the honey was all eaten out of the center, 
and the bees drew to one side; they ate all the honey on that 
side and a long cold spell prevented their going to the other side 
until they starved to death, leaving plenty of honey in the hive; 
or, the colony may have been queenless and weak at the end of 
the honey season. 

Bees Flying Out. — Q. On a warm afternoon the bees crowd 
around the entrance to the hive almost clogging it full. Some of 
the* bees crawl up the front of the hive, take wing and fly back to 
the entrance of the hive and go in. Some of them crawl up the 
front of the hive and fly away. A few take wing from the en- 
trance and after circling back and forth in front of the hive, fly 
away. Why is this? 

A. The young bees are taking their play spell and at the 
same time marking their location. You will notice that at first 
they fly with their heads toward the hive. 

Bees, Livelihood from. — Q. I have been trying to decide on a 
move for several years; that is, in the keeping of bees. I had a 
slight experience of two years with bees, but just became greatly 
interested in them when I left the country to accept a position in 
the Postal Department in New York City. I still hold such a po- 
sition, but my desire and love for bees have increased so much 
that I am contemplating a change to the country. My hesitation 
comes from the doubt whether I could make a good living from 
them alone should I devote my entire time to them. What is your 
opinion? Would it be wise and profitable to give up my position 
of $100 a month to lurch into beekeeping? I would not go in ex- 
tensively at the start, but try and feel my way as I advance. Will 
you kindly give me advice I seek as to whether there is a profit- 
able field in the keeping of bees as a business proposition? 

A. Your question is one that is exceedingly difficult to answer. 
If it be a mere matter of dollars and cents, I should say that bee- 
keeping is a good business to let alone, for the same amount of 
brains and energy that will make you a living at beekeeping will 
make more than a living at almost any other business. But if you 
have the great love for beekeeping that some men have, then it 
may be the part of wisdom for you to choose beekeeping in 
preference to any other business that would net you ten times as 
much money. For your true beekeeper doesn't have to wait until 
he has made his pile before he begins to enjoy life, but every day 
is a vacation day, and a day of enjoyment. 

But you must have a living. Can you make a living at bee- 
keeping? I don't know. There are a few who make a living at 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 19 

beekeeping alone. There are probably a few more who can. You 
may be one of them, and you may not. 

It would not be advisable for you to cut loose from everything 
else and start in at beekeeping with the idea of making a living 
at it from the very start. If you have enough ahead so that you 
can afford to do nothing for a year or two, with a fair assurance 
that you could take up your old line of work at the end of the 
year or two, if you should so elect, then all right. For you must 
count it among the possibilities that the next two years may be 
years of failure in the honey harvest. 

If you can take such a risk, perhaps you can grow into quite a 
business with bees, while still continuing at your present business. 
Indeed, that might be the best way. In a suburban home you 
could probably care for 25 or 50 colonies mornings and evenings. 
Or, you might have a roof apiary in the city. The profit from 
them would be all the while bringing you nearer the point when 
you could cut loose from everything else. After a year or two 
you could judge better than anyone else whether it would be 
feasible and advisable to try beekeeping alone. 

Bees Restless in Winter. — Q. I have two colonies of bees I 
moved 14 miles last December. I packed them in chaff about 3 
inches thick, and they have plenty of honey. They seem restless 
and come out of the hive when it is 20 degrees below zero. What 
is the cause of this? Are they too warm? 

A. The likelihood is that not very many bees are coming out, 
and a very few need cause no alarm. If the number is consider- 
able it may be that a mouse in the hive is disturbing them, or that 
they are troubled with diarrhea. In the latter case a good flight 
the first warm day will cure them, unless, indeed, they have un- 
wholesome stores, which will keep up the trouble more or less 
until warm weather comes. 

Beespace Over Brood-Frames. — Q. I build my own hives. Is 
it necessary to have beespace between cover and brood-frames? 
I find some hives do not have this. 

A. By all means have a space of about one-quarter inch be- 
tween cover and top-bars. This for the sake of allowing a 
passage over the frames in winter, and also because if there is no 
such space the bees will glue the cover tight to the top-bars. This 
is on the supposition that there is nothing between the cover and 
top-bars. With some people it is a common practice to have a 
sheet or quilt over the top-bars, and in that case no space is 
needed except enough room for sheet or quilt. 



20 dr. miller's 

Beestings. — Q. If you wash yourself with salt and water be- 
fore handling bees, will it help to keep them from stinging? 

A. Unless your hands are dirty, I don't believe washing in 
salt water will do any good, and then soap is better than salt. 
When bees are swarming they seldom feel like stinging. 

Q. What is the best remedy for a beesting, either for a person 
on whom the sting swells or on one on whom it doesn't? It does 
not swell on me. I have heard that a sting will always swell on 
a healthy person. Is that true? 

A. To give all the remedies that have been offered for bee- 
stings would occupy pages. Perhaps as good as any other remedy 
is a plaster of mud. Most beekeepers of experience seem to 
think that no remedy does much good; the only thing they do 
being to get the sting out as soon as possible. Don't pull the 
sting out by grasping it between the thumb and finger, for that 
helps to squeeze more poison into the wound; but scrape it out 
with the finger nail, or else, if it is in the hand, by striking the 
hand hard upon the thigh with a sort of sliding motion, which 
wipes out the sting. A sting will swell on a healthy person in 
nearly every case if the person is not used to it, and perhaps a 
little worse on an unhealthy person; but after being stung often 
one generally becomes to an extent immune, so there is little or 
no swelling. Among remedies offered are ammonia, salaratus of 
soda, juice of lemon or plantain leaves, kerosene, cloths wet in 
cold water, etc. 

Q. Does the sting of the honeybee ever prove fatal? I have 
heard that if a person is stung on »the end of the nose it is fatal. 
Is this a fact? 

A. I don't believe a sting of itself ever caused a death. There 
have been cases where persons died after being stung. I've been 
stung many times on the nose, and I'm not at all dead. 

Beeswax. — Q. What is beeswax, or what does it originate 
from? 

A. Look closely at a lot of bees, especially at swarming-time, 
and you will see some of them that have, along the underside of 
their abdomens, little plates of pure beeswax, somewhat pear- 
shaped. That's where the wax originates, being secreted by the 
bee from the food it eats, somewhat as the cow secretes milk 
from the food she eats. 

Q. Since (as it would seem) no established beekeeper pro- 
duces enough wax to work into his necessary foundation, where 
does the surplus come from? 

A. "Things are not what they seem;" at least not always. An 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 21 

established beekeeper may not produce enough wax for his own 
foundation, and again he may. If he works for extracted honey, 
and has reached the point where he makes no more increase and 
needs no more combs, he may have a surplus of wax from his 
cappings, and probably will have; even if he renews his combs, 
the melted combs should furnish wax for the new ones. Upon 
him the comb-honey man may depend for his wax. There are 
also beekeepers who use little or no foundation, and such men 
are likely to produce surplus wax by means of the combs they 
melt up from the diseased colonies. 

Q. What is the best method of producing beeswax? I want 
beeswax instead of honey. (New York.) 

A. So far is I have ever learned, those who make a business 
of producing wax rather than honey have done it by feeding back 
the honey, thinned, as fast as the bees built combs and stored it. 
But that was in places very far from market, where the honey 
would not pay for transportation and wax would. It is not likely 
that you can make it pay in your region. 

Q. Please tell me how I can purify beeswax. I can melt it and 
get it out of the combs by the hot water process, but after I get 
it melted I cannot get the dirt separated from the wax, as under- 
neath the wax there is some kind of fine dirt; that is, the dirt 
does not settle to the bottom of the vessel that the water and 
beeswax are in. I would like to know some way to get this dirt 
out of the wax, and will you please give me a way to mould the 
beeswax into one or two pound blocks? 

A. Your wax is only following the general rule. A large part 
of the impurities, while heavier than wax, are lighter than water, 
so they settle between the water and the wax. In other words, 
you will find a layer of sediment on the under surface of the cake 
of wax when it cools. There is not much difference between the 
weight of the wax and the sediment, so that it takes it a long 
time to settle. So if the wax cools very rapidly, much of the sedi- 
ment will be mixed up with it. Your effort must be to keep the 
wax in the liquid state a long time; or, as it is often expressed, 
you must let the wax cool slowly. One way to do this is to cover 
up warm with blankets or something of the kind. If the amount 
of wax is small it will be longer cooling if you have a good deal 
of water under it. Another way, with a small amount, is to put it 
in the oven of the cook-stove, leaving the oven door open until 
the fire begins to die down in the evening, then shut the door and 
leave it until morning. Put the stove handle in the oven, and 



22 dr. miller's 

then in the morning you will not forget to take out "the wax 
before building the fire. 

Then you scrape the dirt from the bottom of the cake, 
which you can do more easily while the cake is a little warm. 
With a large amount of such scrapings it may be worth while to 
melt the whole to get out the little wax in it, but with a small 
amount it is not worth the trouble. 

Q. Is beeswax injured by coming to a boil? If so, can it be 
detected that the wax has been boiled? 

A. Bringing to a boil will hardly hurt it if not repeated too 
much, nor continued too long, and I don't believe the short boiling 
could be detected. 

Q. Will a brass or copper vessel injure the quality of the wax? 

A. I think not. Iron will darken it. 

Q. How many pounds of honey does it take to make one 
pound of wax? 

A. For a long time it was counted 20 pounds. Then some fig- 
ured it out 7 pounds or less. Possibly 10 or 12 pounds may not be 
far out of the way. 

Beeswax, Rendering (See Combs, Rendering.) 

Bee Supplies, Ordering. — Q. I have 12 colonies of bees in good 
movable-frame hives. I am a beginner. What shall I order in 
the way of supplies? I wish to run for comb honey and increase 
by natural swarming. I have nothing in the way of tools, and 
my time is limited, as I am a rural mail carrier. 

A. It is not an easy thing to tell what anyone needs without 
pretty full particulars as to harvest and conditions. In general 
terms I should say that you should have on hand enough sections 
all ready in supers in advance, so that you can give to the bees as 
many as they would fill in the best season you have ever known, 
and then an extra one for each colony besides. Possibly you 
have had so little experience that you don't know what the bees 
would do in the very best kind of a season. Well, then, we might 
guess that in the very best kind of a year you would get an aver- 
age of 125 sections per colony, although that may be putting it 
pretty low if you are in a good location. If your supers hold 24 
sections each, as a good many supers do, it would take about five 
supers to hold the 124 sections, as we don't need to be so exact 
about it. But some colonies will fill more than the five, and some 
less ; you can't hold them to the exact number, and at the last there 
will necessarily be more or less unfinished sections on the hives 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 23 

when the season closes; so you ought to count on an extra super 
for each colony; altogether six supers per colony, or 72 supers of 
sections for the 12 colonies. Understand only once in a while you 
will have a season when you will need so many, but you never 
know but what the next season will be a bouncer, and you must be 
prepared for it. What are not needed will be all right for the 
next year. Even if the season proves an entire failure your su- 
pers will be all right for the first good season that comes. 

As to hives, you will probably want to double your number, 
preventing all afterswarms, so you will need to have in readiness 
a hive for each colony, or 12 in all. 

Bee Veils. — Q. What is your idea of a good bee veil? 

A. Our favored veil is made after this fashion : One end of 
the veil is sewed to the outer brim of the hat (of course, an elastic 
may be used to slip over the hat if preferred) ; this keeps the veil 
smooth, avoiding wrinkles in front of the face. An elastic cord 
is run in the lower hem. A safety pin is caught through the hem 
in the front, taking in the elastic cord. This is always left hang- 
ing in the veil, then when hat and veil are on, all that is needed 
is to pull the elastic down until taut — not only taut, but stretched 
very tight — and then to fasten the safety pin to keep it so. If a 
rigid cord were used instead of an elastic, when the body was 
bent it would become slack and allow bees to pass under, but if 
the elastic is drawn down tight enough no bee can get under, no 
matter what change is made in the position of the body. Nothing 
can be simpler as a fastening, and it is perfectly safe. 

Beginning in Beekeeping. — Q. I would like to know the best 
possible way to commence beekeeping the coming season. 

A. Take my advice and don't wait for the coming season, but 
begin now, getting a good book on beekeeping and studying it 
thoroughly. That's the way to begin, and by the time you have 
done that you will know plenty well the next step. Begin with 
two or three colonies, so that you may learn as you go. 

Q. I am in Northern Minnesota. Does it make any difference 
whether I get my bees from the Southern States, or would it be 
better to get them as near home as possible? 

A. Better get them as near home as possible. Transportation 
from any distance south would be more than the cost of the bees. 
If you can't do any better, get black bees in box-hives, and then 
you can transfer and Italianize. 

Bisulphide of Carbon (See Carbon Disulfide.) 



24 dr. miller's 

Black Bees. — Q. I bought some bees last year for pure Ital- 
ians, but now there are black ones in the hive. Could they have 
been pure Italians? This is my first year with bees. (July.) 

A. You do not say whether there were any black bees in the 
hive last year. If the workers were all properly marked last year, 
it is possible that the queen was superseded last fall or this 
spring, and that the new queen is mismated. If there are only a 
few black bees in the hive, they may be from other colonies; for 
bees do more in the way of shifting from one hive to another 
than is generally supposed. Look in the hive and see whether 
there are any black bees among the downy little fellows that have 
just hatched. If there are, then either the queen has been 
changed or the queen you bought was not pure. 

Q. Does the black bee enter the supers more readily than the 
Italian? 

A. I think so; but I have no trouble with Italians. 

Blackberry. — Q. Does blackberry yield much honey? 

A. Blackberry is not generally in sufficient number to count 
much. I don't know for certain, but I think it might be important 
where there are large fields of it. In any case, whatever it does 
yield is of importance because it comes early enough to fill in the 
gap between fruit tree bloom and clover. 

Bottom-Boards. — Q. As I expect to make my bottom-boards. I 
would like to know how deep an entrance can be before the bees 
will build comb from the bottom-bars to the bottom-board. I 
have been using seven-eighth inch deep, but I notice the bees 
alight outside and crawl in, the same as a three-eighth inch en- 
trance; but if one and one-quarter inch they don't alight on the 
bottom-board, but on the combs. It seems to me that this must 
save quite a little of the bees' time. Would two inches be too 
deep ? 

A. I don't know just how deep a space would do, but I'm sure 
2 inches would be too deep. I have had bees build comb in a one 
and one-quarter inch space, although from what you say your 
bees may not yet have built in such a space. I should feel safe 
with a three-quarter inch space, and likely there would be little 
building with a space of one inch. My bottom-boards however, 
arc all 2 inches deep; then during the busy season I fill half or 
more of the space with a sort of rack, which prevents the bees 
building down, yet gives them the chance for much ventilation. 
In winter the bees have the whole 2-inch space which is an im- 
portant advantage. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 25 

Q. Which is better, to have the bottoms loose on the hives, or 
have them nailed on? 

A. The best way is to have the bottom fastened to the hive by 
means of staples, so that } r ou can remove it at any time you like. 
I wouldn't have a bottom that could not be fastened on, and a 
bottom that couldn't be taken off readily would be worse still. 

Q. How would it work to use the same depth of bottom- 
board under the frames, seven-eighths in winter, and close the 
entrance down to three-eighths inch by a strip of wood for out- 
door wintering? What size of entrance would you use here? 

A. It would be all right. Deeper than seven-eighths would be 
still better for the bottom-board, but I would not care to have 
the entrance more than three-eighths, and perhaps not more 
than four inches wide. 

Bottom-Boards, Dust on. — 0. I have noticed on the alighting- 
boards of two or three of my colonies a substance resembling 
sawdust. What is this? I winter my bees outside in small sheds 
packed with straw. The sheds face the south. 

A. That brings vividly to mind the first year I wintered bees, 
when I was alarmed to find under the bees and at the entrance 
something that looked like a mixture of coffee grounds and saw- 
dust, and I didn't know but what it was "all up" with my bees. 
An old beekeeper quieted my fears by telling me it was nothing 
worse than the bits of the cappings that the bees dropped when 
unsealing the honey. Your bees have the same "disease." 

Box Hives. — Q. In June I found a large swarm of bees and put 
them in a shoe-box, not having any beehive. I have left them in 
the shoe-box, and I think there must be about 100 pounds of honey 
in it, as it is all that I can do to lift it. What is the best way to 
get a portion of this honey without damaging the bees or 
their winter supply? What is the best way to keep bees over 
winter? M}' cellar is rather cold, and slightly damp. Would it do 
to keep them there? (Illinois.) 

A. It is very doubtful whether you can take any honey away 
without badly damaging the chances of the bees for safe winter- 
ing. Better leave it until spring, or until next summer, after the 
bees have swarmed. They will not waste it, and you can get later 
what honey they can spare. If they were in a movable-comb hive 
you could safely take the honey now. 

You are in latitude 41 north, or a little more, and in Illinois 
that's nearly the dividing line between outdoor and cellar winter- 
ing, with mostly cellaring. But if your cellar is damp and cold, 
and there is no way to warm it, you may do better outdoors. 



26 dr. miller's 

Brace-Comb. — Q. What is a burr-comb? What is a brace- 
comb ? 

A. The terms "burr" and "brace" are used somewhat indis- 
criminately, "burr" more properly referring to bits of comb built 
over the top-bar or elsewhere, perhaps without connecting two 
parts together; and "brace" being used to designate bits built be- 
tween frames or combs, thus serving to brace them. 

Brood Carried Out. — Q. I have 13 colonies and there are five 
of them that are carrying out brood almost ready to hatch. What 
is the trouble, and how can I prevent or remedy it? 

A. Late in the season drone-brood will be thrown out at a 
time when bees kill off drones. A very few specimens of such 
brood thrown out at any time may have no special significance. 
There are other causes. In the spring of the year the bees are 
likely to use large quantities of stores in rearing brood, and it 
generally takes several years for a beginner to learn that unless 
they have a big lot of honey on hand there is danger of starva- 
tion. You have on hand, perhaps, a plain case of starvation, and 
of course there is just one way to prevent or cure, and that is to 
feed. Occasionally a very fertile queen will lay faster than her 
small colony can care for the brood. Cold, raw days may chill 
brood not properly covered. This brood will die and be carried 
out. These instances are rather rare, and the amount of chilled 
brood is usually small. 

Brood-Chamber Clogged With Honey. — Q. "Why don't bees 
go into supers?" Brood-chambers are clogged with brood and 
honey, and "nothing doing" in the supers. Advice given is to un- 
cap the honey in the brood-chamber. Most of the sections have 
bait-comb in them. I have no uncapper, so I have run a hook 
over the capped honey and considerably disturbed it. Now, how 
about being as sure as possible that in these hives with clogged-up 
brood-frames (with honey) there will be enough bees growing in 
September or August so as to have the colonies winter all right? 
Is there such trouble in producing extracted honey? What had I 
better do? 

A. Running a hook over the sealed surface ought to have 
somewhat the same effect as uncapping, but is probably not as 
good. If you have no regular uncapping-knife, a common butcher- 
knife will do fairly well. When the surface has merely been 
scratched 1 have known the bees to repair the capping, not taking 
up any of the honey. But if the knife cuts down to the honey, 
they are bound to take up some of the honey before they can do 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 27 

anything at repairing the capping, and if everything is full below 
they are to a certain extent compelled to deposit the honey above. 

If a good fall flow comes, that may start an increase of brood- 
rearing, and the bees may empty some of the honey from the 
brood-chamber into the super. If no fall flow comes, there is 
danger, as you suggest, that brood-rearing will be so limited that 
the colony will not be so strong for winter. Yet there is this 
crumb of comfort in the case, that if there is nothing for the bees 
to do in the field they will not grow old so rapidly, and will not 
die off so fast, so that, after all, they may not be so very weak for 
winter. 

With extracting-combs there is less inclination to cram the 
brood-chamber, yet if the bait-sections be as fully drawn out as 
the extracting-combs the difference should be very little, unless it 
be that extracting-combs that have been used as brood-combs 
have greater attraction for the bees than comb that has never had 
anything but honey in it. 

Are you sure that your colony has enough ventilation so that 
the bees may be comfortable in the upper story? 

Brood-Chambers, Two-Story. — Q. Would you approve of the 
plan of using two brood-chambers, one on top of the other, to 
enlarge the brood-nest of 8-frame dovetailed hives? I do not 
wish to keep more than 6 or 8 colonies, but I would like to keep 
them strong. 

A. Decidedly. It often happens that before the clover harvest 
is over, a good queen will be hampered in a single 8-frame hive, 
and then it's a good thing to add the second story. But if you 
are working for comb honey you should reduce to one story at 
the time of putting on supers. That can hardly be said to be re- 
ducing the room of the colony — merely giving the room in the 
super in place of the brood-chamber. 

Q. At about what date do you contract from two-hive bodies 
to one, and do you do it by shaking? I assume that most of the 
workers must be left in the single chamber, so that the gathering 
force there may be as strong as possible. 

A. You will find in "Fifty Years Among the Bees," that about 
as soon as clover-bloom begins, or at least within ten days after 
seeing the very first blossom, I give section-supers, and at that 
time I reduce to one story, leaving in that one story all the brood 
I can, and all the bees, shaking or brushing all the bees from the 
combs I remove. 

Brood Dead. — Q. This fall we doubled up on a few colonies by 
putting the weaker colony on top and a sheet of newspaper be- 



28 dr. miller's 

tween. When I took the frames out of this top hive to hang 
them in the basement for the winter, I found dead brood in them. 
I thought perhaps this brood was not properly taken care of by 
the bees. There was no smell, the brood was not ropy, and the 
unsealed brood was coffee colored, while the sealed was white 
and thin. 

A. Like enough the few bees deserted the brood and went 
below, leaving the brood above to starve. 

Q. I have one colony that is carrying out brood in all stages 
of development, some alive with wings almost developed. Can 
you tell me what is wrong? 

A. One guess is that the larvae of the bee-moth, or wax- 
worms, have mutilated the young bees with their galleries and 
the bees carry them out. Another is that the bees are driving 
out the drones and destroying the drone larvae, or they are 
starving. 

Brood-Frames. — Q. Should the honey of the brood-frames be 
extracted, and can it be done without injuring the brood? 

A. Unless you are very careful you are likely to throw out 
brood if any is in the comb; and it is not considered best to ex- 
tract honey from such combs. 

Brood-Rearing. — Q. If there is plenty of honey, at about what 
time do bees quit rearing brood? 

A. Somewhere about October 1, some earlier and some later, 
depending upon age of queen, condition of colony, and part of 
country. In the south, brood is reared practically the entire year. 

Q. I notice that late brood-rearing is recommended. How 
would you encourage it? 

A. With a fall flow of even moderate extent there is no need 
to do anything to keep up late brood-rearing. Young queens, how- 
ever, are more reliable than old ones. If the flow stops early, 
breeding can be kept up by light feeding every other night. 

Q. Why do bees rear brood in December and January? They 
have very little honey. (West Virginia.) 

A. It is nothing unusual for bees wintered outdoors to begin 
rearing brood in February, especially as far south as Virginia, 
and not very unusual in January. I think December is unusual, 
and I don't know why any of yours should begin so early. Pos- 
sibly there is something in their condition causing it. 

Q. Will a colony rear brood in February or Marcji if it has 
been given frames of sealed honey in the fall? I gave it outside 
frames, which, I don't think, had any pollen in them, or beebread. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 29 

This swarm I caught late in August, so it did not have time to pro- 
cure stores for the winter. 

A. A good colony wintered outdoors will be likely to rear 

brood before February is over, if it has pollen. If no pollen is 

present, you need not expect brood till pollen can be gathered. 

Q. Will bees rear brood sooner in spring when wintered in 
the cellar or on the summer stands? 

A. They begin rearing brood, as a rule, sooner outdoors than 
in cellar. Even in the north, brood-rearing outdoors begins often, 
if not generally, in February, and in the cellar generally not till 
March. 

Q. What is the most satisfactory way of stimulating brood- 
rearing in the spring? 

A. The most satisfactory way for me is to see that the bees 
have plenty, yes, more than plenty — abundance— of stores; keep 
them well closed up, and then let them entirely alone. If your 
queens are not so good at laying as to do their best without the 
lash, or if your locality is such that you have good flying weather 
without any pasturage, then it may pay you to feed half a pound 
of diluted honey every other evening, or to change end for end 
the outside comb on each side. 

Brood Scattered. — Q. When you find little patches of brood 
deposited here and there in the combs, what does it indicate? 
A. Probably a failing queen. 

Brood, Spreading. — Q. What are the indications when it is 
safe and profitable to spread the brood, i. e., place an empty comb 
in the center? 

A. For some years I have been of the opinion that for me 
there is no time when it is profitable to spread brood. Early in 
the season, at the time when we want bees to build up as fast as 
possible, the bees of their own accord have all the brood they can 
cover. In that case, if brood is spread it can result only in chilled 
brood, thus hindering instead of helping the building up. I don't 
know whether the bees of others are different or not. If at any 
time your bees are covering combs that have no brood or eggs at 
the outer part of the cluster, it ought then to be safe and profit- 
able to spread. But be sure you're right before you go ahead. 

Brood Uneven. — Q. I have one colony of bees whose cells are 
uneven on top — some tall and some low. What is this? Some of 
the brood looks pink, but does not smell. I have a virgin queen 
in the hive. Could she be a drone-layer only, or not purely 
mated? 



30 



DR. MILLER S 



A. That is not the work of a virgin or unfertilized queen, but 
rather of an old queen. It is nothing very unusual when a queen 
becomes quite old for the store of spermatozoa to become to a 
certain extent exhausted, and then some of the eggs laid in 
worker-cells will not be fertilized and will produce drones, and 




Fig. 6. Drone and worker-brood, irregular; showing the work of an old or 

inferior queen. 

the cappings of these will be raised. It is not the work of laying 
workers, for in that case none of the brood would be sealed level. 

Buckeye. — Q. Is buckeye honey bad for bees? 
A. I never heard it was. 

Buckwheat. — Q. (a) Does buckwheat bloom at the same time 
that white clover does? 

(b) How much should be sown to the acre? 

(c) Does it make the bees want to swarm in the fall? 

(d) Is the grain good for chickens? 

(e) Is buckwheat honey better than clover? 

A. (a) No; buckwheat is much later, usually being sown after 
clover is in bloom, say about the last of June. 

(b) Some sow two pecks to the acre some twice as much. 

(c) It is not likely to make the bees swarm. 

(d) The grain is good for chickens. 

(e) No; it is dark, strong, and generally sells for considerably 
less than clover, yet some prefer it. 

Q. Can I sow buckwheat in the spring, and continue at stated 
times through the summer, so as to have it bloom at certain peri- 
ods, and make it profitable? 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 31 

A. It is not advisable. Buckwheat seems to fit better as a late 
growth. Even if it should succeed when grown early, it would 
not be desirable where the earlier harvest gives honey of a lighter 
color, and better quality. 

Q. I have a patch of buckwheat now in full bloom, but my bees 
do not pay any attention to it. What do you think is the cause 
of this? 

A. I think buckwheat sowed about the first of July yields nec- 
tar better than that sowed earlier, and yours may have been sown 
too early. However, buckwheat is like white clover and other 
plants, it sometimes fails to yield nectar, no matter whether early 
or late, and I don't know why. Bees rarely work on buckwheat 
bloom in the afternoon. 

Buildings, Bees in. — Q. There are a few swarms of bees in a 
house, and one in the bank building, which are troublesome. The 
openings are very small. How can they be killed? 

A. Try putting in four or five tablespoonfuls of carbon disul- 
fide (called also bisulphide of carbon.) It must be done at a time 
when all the bees are in, some sort of a crooked funnel being ar- 
ranged to make the liquid enter the hole, and the hole promptly 
closed. Have no light near, for fear of an explosion. 

Q. I have an old frame building and between the walls honey- 
bees have made a home. There are three or four colonies in this 
building, and I would like to know if it would be possible to get 
them out from between the walls and put them in standard hives? 

A. Cut away the walls so that you can get at the combs, and 
put them in the hive; leave the hive as near as possible to the old 
place of entrance; close up the wall so no bee can get into it, 
keeping the bees smoked out until this is done; then gradually 
move the hive each day to where you want it. That's the general 
principle, which may be varied according to circumstances. 

Buildings for Bees. — Q. Is it possible to keep several colonies 
of bees in a building, using a window as a common entrance for 
all? 

A. Yes, with proper precautions. The room must be light 
enough so bees can easily find their own hives after they are in 
the room, or else a tube for each hive to the outside, and there 
must be no chance for a bee to get out of the tube into the room. 
In the first case (the light room) precaution must be taken against 
bees flying against the glass where they cannot get out. The win- 
dow, or windows, must have an opening at bottom and top of each 
window, or no sash at all. 



32 



DR. MILLER S 



Bulk-Comb Honey. — Q. Please explain the Texas method of 
having comb honey in jars. What is your idea of it? 

A. I suppose you refer to the bulk-comb honey produced in 
Texas. Get honey filled in frames, cut out the comb, pack it in 
jars or cans, and fill up the interstices with extracted honey. 

If I were in Texas I'd gladly go in for bulk-comb honey. 




Fig. 7. Bulk-comb Honey. The comb is cut and placed in the can or jar, the in- 
terstices being filled with extracted honey. 



Q. Are starters or full sheets of foundation put into frames 
every time the full combs are cut out when running for chunk 
honey? 

A. Some use full sheets, some use starters, and some use 
neither, when the comb is cut out leaving enough of the comb 
under the top-bar to serve as a starter. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 33 

Q. How would it work for bulk-comb honey to put on an extra 
body of Hoffman brood-frames with brood foundation, or would 
it be better to use section foundation? 

A. The thinner foundation would be better for table honey, 
and yet some have reported that the heavier foundation was 
thinned down by the bees. It would not be a bad plan to try each, 
and then you would know better what to do in future. 

Bumblebees. — Q. Do bees and bumblebees eyer sting each 
other to death? 

A. I think it is not very uncommon for a bumblebee to attempt 
to enter a hive and to be seized by the bees. I have seen such 
cases, and oftener I have seen the dead body of a bumblebee at or 
near the hive entrance, the hairs stripped from its body. I have 
an impression that the honeybees are never stung by the bumble- 
bees, although the honeybees often sting the bumblebees. 

Burr-Combs. — Q. Should burr-combs be cut out from between 
frames when they appear? 

Would bees tear them down as they do queen-cells? 

A. It is better to cut them out every year or two, as they are 
in the way, and make it difficult to crowd the frames together 
without killing bees. 

No, the bees never clean out burr-combs, and the presence of 
any of them between frames seems to be an invitation to the bees, 
to build more. On the whole, , it may pay to clean them out every 
spring. 

Q. How can I prevent burr-combs? 

A. You cannot prevent burr-combs entirely, but you will get 
along with a minimum if you will avoid too large spaces wherever 
burr-combs are likely to be built — don't have spaces more than 
one-quarter inch. 

Buying Bees. — Q. When would you advise to buy bees? 

A. Rather late in the spring, say about the beginning of fruit- 
bloom, is a very good time. The troubles resulting from wintering 
are likely to be over then, with nothing to hinder a prosperous 
career. 

Q. I want to start an apiary and don't know where to obtain 
some Italian bees. Will you please give me the desired informa- 
tion? 

A. I have no means of knowing any better than you. Your 
first effort should be to get the bees as near by as possible, since 
expressage is very expensive, and the railroads will not accept 



34 



DR. MILLER S 



bees by freight. A little ad in your local paper might discover 
someone close by having Italian bees, of whom you had no 
knowledge. Possibly you may find in the advertisements of the 
bee journals what you want, and if not, then an ad in a bee paper, 
costing very little, would probably bring a number of offers. 

Lately pound packages are largely used, though hardly advis- 
able for beginners. 

Cage for Introducing. — Q. What cages are the best for intro- 
ducing queens? What kind of candy is used in them? 

A. Merely for introducing without shipping, the Miller cage, 
with Scholz or Good candy. 

Campanula — Campanilla. — Q. What is the Campanula, where 
does it grow, and is the honey from it of good grade? 

A. Campanula, or belleflower, has not any reputation as a 

honey plant. But the Campanilla blanca of Cuba (ipomae sidse- 
folia) also called "Aguinaldo de Pascua," is one of the principal 
honey plants of Cuba. There are several varieties. The honey is 
light, about like white clover, and is said to have a very fine flavor. 




The Campanilla in full bloom. 



Candy for Bees. — Q. As T have some colonics n\ bees light in 
stores, how can 1 make candy out of granulated sugar to carry 
them through the winter? 

A. You can make Scholz or Good candy, but the probability is 

you have not the extracted honey. SO all you need to do is to make 
just plain Migar candy. Into a vessel oi boiling water on the stove, 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 



35 



stir two or three times as much sugar, and let it cook until a bit of 
it dropped into cold water appears brittle; then pour it out into 
greased dishes so as to make cakes half an inch to an inch in 
thickness. These cakes may be laid on top of the frames and then 
covered up any way to keep snug and close, so the bees will go up 
to them; for if too cold the bees will not leave the cluster to reach 
them, and starve with abundance in the hive. Then promise 
yourself you'll not be caught that way again, but will have plenty 
of combs of sealed honey each fall to meet any emergency. 

Q. How can I make queen-candy for introducing cages? 

A. Heat a little extracted honey (don't burn it), and stir into 
it some powdered sugar. Keep adding all the sugar you can until 
you have a stiff dough. Even after you seem to have it quite stiff 




Fig. 9. "Campanilla Blanca" and a sealed frame of its honey. 
"The famous honey of Cuba" 



you can still knead in more sugar. Then let it stand a day or so, 
and very likely you can knead in a little more sugar. No danger of 
getting it too thick. You will notice that no definite quantities 
are given, but you will use several times as much sugar as honey. 
At a rough guess I should say that if you begin with one spoonful 
of honey you will have five spoonfuls of candy. Of course, if at 
any time you should get in too much sugar, you can add honey. 
If is not really necessary to heat the honey, only it hurries up the 
work a little. Government regulations require that honey used in 
candy for mailing cages be first boiled in a covered vessel, to kill 
germs of bee diseases. 

Q. Why is it that hard sugar candy is vised as winter feed while 



36 dr. miller's 

the candying of honey in the hive is deplored? Why not feed 
candied honey over the cluster when needed? 

A. Your question is hardly a fair one, for it sounds like saying 
that there is no objection to feeding candy, while there is objec- 
tion to letting the bees have candied honey. The fact is that 
there are good authorities who deplore the feeding of sugar candy 
more than the candying of honey. There is, however, not so 
much said against the feeding of sugar candy, because it is often 
a choice between that and starvation, in which case the feeding of 
candy is not a thing to be deplored. In the case of honey candy- 
ing, it is to be deplored, because it is not so good as liquid honey. 
It remains, however, to say that it is quite possible that it is better 
to feed candied honey than to feed sugar candy, and that so good 
authorities as the Dadants have practiced feeding candied honey. 
Perhaps ye Editor will tell us about it in a bracket. 

(Sugar may be crystalized in lumps like rock candy, in which 
case it is of no use to the bees. But soft candy makes good bee 
food. The same may be said of granulated honey. If the honey 
has granulated in a way that there are hard, crusty lumps in it, 
some of it may be lost by the bees, especially if they attempt to 
consume it in dry weather. When the atmosphere is loaded with 
moisture, much of this softens so the bees can use it. But well 
ripened honey which has a soft granulation will be consumed to 
the last mite. We have often fed candied honey in the way sug- 
gested by our correspondent.) 

Candying (See Granulation.) 

Cappings. — Q. I have been told that yellow flowers tend to 
make cappings yellow, too, or, in brief, that the bees will cap 
honey from yellow flowers with a yellow capping. If this is true, 
please explain. 

A. Yes, it is true, at least of some flowers, dandelion, for ex- 
ample. I suppose the bees get the yellow coloring from the pollen. 

Q. What methods, if any, besides the knife, have been used 
since the invention of the extractor to get rid of the cappmgs of 
the combs? 

A. Turn to page 306 of the American Bee Journal for October, 
1908, and you will find description and illustrations of the Bayless 
uncapping machine. Several other machines for uncapping have 
been invented, but none absolutely perfected. 

Q. To melt up cappings and wax scraps, what would be the 
simplest way to do? 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 37 

A. Use a solar wax-extractor, or hold your refuse till you have 
a sufficient quantity to send to a dealer who makes a business of 
wax rendering. You may also render the cappings in an ordinary 
wash boiler, with water. 

Q. (a) How can I dispose of water which is a little sweet so 
as not to have the bees bother? 

(b) Is there any chemical or other article which can be mixed 
with the washings of wax and cappings to be thrown out that will 
not attract the bees? 

A. (a) I have never paid any attention to it, for if it is thrown 
into a drain or upon the ground it is so diluted that it disappears 
before the bees pay any attention to it. If you find the bees 
trouble in that way, you could add more water to it before throw- 
ing it away, so as to make the sweetness *very slight, and then if 
each time you throw it on a new place on the ground, I think you 
will have no trouble. The reason for extreme caution in the matter 
is the fear that there might be foulbrood in the honey. You might 
make a sure thing of it by having a pit dug, into which you would 
throw the washings, and have the pit covered well. But why not 
save your sweet water for vinegar making? 

(b) Carbolic acid would, no doubt, be effective. 

Q. When the cappings of brood-cells are sunk, is it always all 
indication of disease, or are the cappings of healthy brood some- 
times sunk? 

A. I don't know that the cappings of healthy brood are ever 
sunk, but dead brood might have sunken cappings without any 
disease being present; and, of course, dead brood could hardly be 
called healthy brood. 

Cappings Melter. — Q. Is there any melter that will do fast 
work and not injure the flavor of the honey that goes through it? 

A. Maybe; but as the Scotchman says, "I hae ma doots." To 
do fast work there must be considerable heat, so that at least a 
little of the fine flavor would be hurt. 

Carbon Disulfide. — Q. What quantity of carbon disulfide 
should be used for a stack of eight 8-frame supers of combs, and 
how often should the application be made to ensure against wax- 
worms ? 

A. Four tablespoonfuls ought to suffice. One application is 
sufficient, unless fresh eggs are laid in them again by the beemoth. 

Carload of Bees. — Q. How many colonies can be shipped in a 
car? Please give instructions as to how to prepare bees for ship- 



38 dr. miller's 

ping, and how to load them in a car. Can the hives be placed on 
top of each other in the car? 

A. Perhaps 500. The hives must, of course, be fastened bee- 
tight, but with plenty of ventilation. The hives must be placed so 
the frames will run parallel with the track, so the bumping will 
strike the combs lengthwise and not sidewise. If there are no 
more than will stand on the bottom of the car — say 90 to 100 hives 
— the only fastening needed will be strips nailed to the floor, so 
the hives cannot move in any direction the strips being one or two 
inches thick. If the hives are piled on top of one another, then, 
they must be strongly fastened by braces running from side to 
side, or else from top to bottom, perhaps both. 

Carniolans. — Q. Describe the color of the Carniolan bee. 
Some say that this kind of bee has yellow bands, and others say 
there are none of yellow color, but that they are all gray. 

A. I think you would not recognize any yellow in Carniolans. 
They have very distinct rings on the abdomen, but these rings are 
not yellow, but whitish. They look much more like blacks than 
Italians, but have the credit of being a little larger than blacks. 

Q. Is the quality of honey of the Carniolans better than of 
other races of bees? I have been told so, and that they don't 
gather honeydew as much as the other bees. Is there any truth 
in the statement? 

A. The quality of honey gathered from the same source will 
no doubt be the same, no matter what bees gather it. I don't 
know whether Carniolans are less inclined than others to gather 
honeydew. I didn't know it was claimed for them. 

Q. I have some Carniolan bees in 8-frame hives. If I had 
them in a larger hive would they swarm less? Can I get surplus 
honey in bigger hives, that is, if I have bigger brood-charnber ? 
I like the Carniolan bees; they stand the severest winter and 
breed up faster in the spring. They gave me a nice surplus of 
honey early in the season, two supers to each colony. I sold the 
honey and got a good price for it. I have some colonies that will 
give four supers, and this is not the best honey year for Illinois, 
either. 

A. Yes; a large hive will reduce the probability of swarming, 
since a crowded condition of the brood-nest is one of the chief 
factors in producing the swarming fever. Neither will a larger 
hive take away your chances for getting surplus. Formerly I 
used 10-frame hives, and changed to 8-frame hives chiefly because 
it was the fashion. If I were to start in afresh I would study 
some time before I would decide to adopt the smaller hive. With 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 39 

the larger hive I got fine crops of beautiful sections, and you can 
do the same. 

Carniolan bees swarm very readily. 

Catclaw. — Q. From what section is catclaw honey obtained? 
Is its honey of good flavor? 

A. The catclaw, though found in most southern states, is a 
honey producer especially in Texas. The blossoms come out in 
late spring, the tree being low, bushy and spiny. The honey is 
only fair in flavor as compared to the whiter honeys like alfalfa. 

Catnip. — Q. Is catnip honey fit for table use? It seems to 
taste very strong. (Iowa.) 

A. Catnip honey has the reputation of being fine for table use. 
Unless you have catnip in great abundance, and little or noth- 
ing else yielding at the same time, you can hardly be sure that 
you have pure catnip honey; and it is possible that the very 
strong taste comes from some other honey being mixed with the 
catnip. 

Q. Will catnip sown now, or in the spring, afford bee-pasture 
next season? 

A. Catnip is a perennial, continuing permanently when once 
started. I think you cannot count on bloom the first season, but 
it will increase in size and strength after the second year. It 
seems to have a partiality for hedge-rows, but that may be be- 
cause of the protection, for it grows well in the full blaze of the 
sun. 

Caucasians. — Q. What color is the Caucasian bee, if the stock 
is pure? 

A. About the same color as the common black bee. 

Q. What are the physical features that distinguish the Cau- 
casian bees from the Carniolans? 

A. The main difference in appearance is that the whitish ring 
is not so distinct in Caucasians as in Carniolans. Carniolans look 
enough like blacks to make it hard to distinguish them, and Cau- 
casians look still more like blacks. The rings on the abdomen of 
Carniolans are whitish; on Caucasians grayish. 

Q. Are the Caucasian bees as gentle and as good honey- 
gatherers as the Italians? 

A. The Caucasians were heralded as the most gentle of bees. 
No doubt some of them are, but others are reported as being no 
gentler than Italians. Not as much has been said about their 
gathering ability as their gentleness, and it is hard to say just 



40 dr. miller's 

yet what their status will be in that particular. They are still 
more or less on trial. 

Q. I have 20 colonies of bees that I want to breed up to Ital- 
ians or Caucasians. Which would you advise me to breed them 
up to? 

A. Opinions differ; but Italians are so generally preferred 
that you will be safe in adopting them. 

Cedar. — Q. My bees gathered pollen today (March 4), from 
red cedar ,and as I have failed to find cedars referred to as a 
source of honey or pollen, it struck me as something rather un- 
usual. Is that a common occurrence? 

A. It is quite likely that it is nothing unusual, even though 
no mention may have been made of it. It is only the plants from 
which unusual quantities of either honey or pollen are obtained 
that are generally mentioned as honey-plants. 

Cellars for Bees.— Q. I wish to build a bee-cellar to hold 200 
colonies. I intend to build it in a side hill and have it entirely 
under-ground, and cover it with a roof, then 3 feet of earth, then 
a roof over this to keep the earth dry. How large would you 
build it? 

A. Ten cubic feet for each colony is not far out of the way. 

Q. Would you make any special arrangements for ventila- 
tion? If so, how would you arrange the ventilators? The sides 
and ends will be built of stone and mortar. 

A. It might be a good plan for you to have a ventilator, be- 
cause it is easy to provide one when building, and not so easy 
afterward, and if you find you are better off without it you need 
not use it. T. F. Bingham had a repository not so entirely under- 
ground, and he believed in a ventilator 16 inches square. A plain 
board pipe from hear the ground up will answer. 

Q. My cellar floor is concrete and is always damp. I am 
thinking of covering it with four inches of dry sawdust. What 
do you think about it? I wintered 106 colonies in this cellar 
without a loss in 1914, but the covers and bottoms were very damp 
in the spring. I gave the bees all the ventilation possible,' accord- 
ing to the weather, and the temperature stood at about 45 degrees 
on top and 42 degrees below. 

A. I'm afraid the sawdust will not do a great deal of good. 
Possibly it might if you should sweep it up and dry it out as fast 
as it got wet. Lime might do more good. 

Q. My cellar (28x30 feet) has a hot water boiler in it. The 
temperature varies from 48 to 52 degrees. Do you think I can 
winter a dozen colonies of bees in it successfully? 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 



41 



A. It ought to be a capital place. Without letting light into 
the cellar you should keep it open enough to have the air always 
fresh, not cooling it below 45 degrees. 

Q. Will a cellar containing vegetables, potatoes, etc., be a 
good place to winter bees? Would the odor from the vegetables 
hurt the bees? 

A. That depends. If, like too many cellars, with a lot of de- 
cayed vegetables and the air foul and moldy, the bees will not do 




Fig. 10. A bee-cellar conveniently located to the apiary. The upper part is 
used as a honey and super storage room. 



well. If the cellar is kept as clean as it should be for civilized 
beings to live over, the bees will not object to the odor of the 
vegetables. 

Q. Is there any way to keep a cellar dry enough for bees 
when the thermometer is only 38 degrees, Fahr.? I lost all my 
bees the last three winters. I think it must be because of the 
dampness and the cold. What can I do to keep it warm and dry? 
We have had bees for the last twenty years, and *have been suc- 
cessful until the spring of 1908, when we lost all. 

A. Putting lime in the cellar will help to keep it dry. But at 
38 degrees, the cold may be more to blame than the dampness. 
For years, before there was a furnace in my cellar. I kept a small 



42 dr. miller's 

stove in it, and kept a low fire in it whenever necessary to keep 
the temperature up to 45 degrees. It seems a little strange that 
after 17 years of success you should have a failure three years in 
succession. Like enough the tide will now turn, and you will 
again have good success. In my earlier years of beekeeping, I 
had experience as bad as yours, but by sticking to it I've m; t de 
quite a lot of money from the bees since. 

Q. If bees are put into a cellar under the kitchen, would the 
noises incident to the kitchen-work — running a washer, bringing 
in wood, constant walking, etc. — be a detriment to the bees, pro- 
vided the hives were not jarred by any of these various opera- 
tions? 

A. I cannot speak with entire positiveness ; but I have never 
noted any bad results from noises overhead (although I never had 
anything very bad in that line), and never heard of it from 
others, so I don't believe you need take into account the matter of 
noise, but put your bees in the place that gives you the best tem- 
perature and ventilation, providing there is any difference. 

Q. Suppose a cellar is full of bees. Is it good or bad for the 
health of those who live in the rooms above the bees? 

A. That depends on the beekeeper. If he's a poor bee- 
keeper he will likely have a cellar with foul air and dead bees, and 
his cellar will be bad to live over. If the beekeeper is all right, 
the cellar will be kept clean, with pure air. The air in my cellar 
is as good as, or better than, the air in the living-rooms, for the 
cellar door is more or less open nearly all the time. 

Cellaring Bees. — Q. Will you give me some light on how to 
carry bees into the cellar without the bees flying out and sting- 
ing? For years it has been a mystery to me how to carry bees in, 
and sometimes out, without closing the entrances. Is there a 
difference in bees, handling, location, or what? I am curious to 
know. 

A. I will tell you just as nearly as I can just how my -bees 
were carried into the cellar last year. They were carried in, No- 
vember 25, in the morning. The cellar had been wide open the 
night before. Although that does not make much difference at 
carrying in as it does at carrying out, still it is better to have the 
cellar cool, so the bees will settle down quietly when brought in. 
The average distance of the hives from the cellar door was about 
ten and one-half rods. Then they were carried a rod or so fur- 
ther to their place in the inner room. Two able-bodied men took 
about two hours to carry in the 93 colonies. One of them was ex- 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 43 

perienced at the business; I think the other had never carried 
bees before. Each man picked up his hive, carried it in his arms 
into the cellar and set it in its place. You may judge of the quiet- 
ness of the bees when I tell you that no sort of protection was 
used in the way of gloves, veils or smoke, and the entrances were 
left wide open. There was one exception; I had failed to staple 
on the bottom-board of one hive, and when the bottom dropped 
off I had to use smoke to fasten it on. But I must hasten to add 
that last year was exceptional. I think they were never carried 
before without veil or gloves, for at least a few colonies would 
prove troublesome. I don't know what made the difference. Per- 
haps the bees were in an unusually dormant condition. 

I am unable to say why your bees should act so differently. 
Some bees are more irritable than others; but I doubt if your bees 
are worse than mine in that respect. Perhaps one secret is in 
having the bees undisturbed for a long time before they are car- 
ried, and then being set down so quickly that they do not have 
time to get fully waked up. When they are in the most quiet con- 
dition it takes two or three minutes to get them thoroughly 
aroused, and in that time they are in place in the cellar. If they 
are stirred up ever so little, they are easily stirred up a few min- 
utes later. 

Cellar Wintering (See Wintering.) 

Cells, Kinds of. — Q. Describe and tell how to know a queen or 
drone-cell from a worker-cell. 

A. Lay a rule on the cells. If they measure five to the inch, 
they are worker-cells; if four to the inch, they are drone-cells; if 
larger and shaped like an acorn cup, they are queen-cells. 

Cell-Protectors. — Q. How are those little cone-shaped wire 
queen-cell protectors used? I have a number of them, but did 
not use them because I could not make them cover the cell as I 
thought they ought. 

A. The protector must be large enough to cover the whole 
cf the cell after all superfluous wax has been trimmed from the 
cell. The point 'of the cell is put in the hole of the protector, 
and the four points of the wire-cloth twisted together. A 
slender wire has one end fastened to the protector and the other 
end of the wire is fastened to the middle of a nail. Two frames 
are pulled apart, the cell is let down between them, so that the 
cell will be at the middle of the frames, and the nail across the 



44 dr. miller's 

top-bars prevents the cell from falling down. Generally, how- 
ever, there is no need of the nail, for the frames come near 
enough together to hold the cell; the wire serving to hold the cell 
ip place till the frames are shoved together. 

Cement for Hives. — Q. Do you think it would be all right to 
make supers out of cement? Would it agree with the bees? 1 
can make them much cheaper than with lumber. (Arizona.) 

A. My guess would be that cement supers would be quite 
objectionable on account of their weight. It is also possible that 
with 115 degrees in the shade they might be too hot. 

Q. How about concrete for hive-bottoms? I am setting some 
of my bees on blocks I make for them right on the cool ground. 
Can they be used for winter? 

A. They will probably work all right for either summer or 
winter. Of course, it would seem as if concrete would give the 
bees "cold feet" in winter; but then, they don't need to put their 
feet on the concrete. 

Chaff Hives. — Q. I wish to work up to about 20 or 25 colonies 
of bees and have no bee-cellar to winter them in. I think of using 
nothing but chaff hives. Would you advise me to depend en- 
tirely on such hives? 

A. I hardly dare advise. Chaff hives will make you less trou- 
ble preparing for winter, but they are cumbersome and unwieldy, 
and if they should perchance at any time pass into the possession 
of someone having a cellar or wanting to take them to an out- 
apiary, they would be objectionable. So it would not be a bad 
plan for you to experiment a little trying both kinds, only be sure 
to have only one size of frames. In northern latitudes the chaff 
hive is counted valuable. 

Chestnut. — Q. How would chestnut lumber do for beehives? 
A. From my recollection of it in boyhood, I should call it bad. 

Chickens Eating Bees. — Q. Is it a common thing for chickens 
to eat bees? We had one that would stand in front of a beehive 
and eat bees until it was full. I thought it would die, but it kept 
it up for two weeks, and was doing well. 

A. Testimony is somewhat mixed on this subject. For the 
most part it is claimed that chickens do not eat bees, or if they 
do, it is only the drones. Some, however, say that chickens eat 
workers,* especially some chickens that have learned the trick. 

Chunk Honey (See Bulk-Comb Honey.) 

Cleome. — Q. What about artificial pasturage for bees? Is 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 45 

Cleome pungens worth cultivating for the honey alone? Is the 
honey of good quality? Is it light or dark, and how does it com- 
pare with white clover honey? 

A. Cleome pungens is not worth cultivating for honey alone. 
I do not remember to have seen any statement as to the charac- 
ter of its honey, and I don't know whether anyone ever secured 
enough of it to tell just what it was like. 

Clover, Alsike. — Q. There is not a half acre of white or alsike 
clover within three miles. Would it be profitable to sow 15 or 20 
acres ? 

A. Just for the hone}' alone that the bees would get, it would 
not pay at all. But if you take into account the additional gain 
from hay and pasturage, it might pay well. 

Q. Does red or alsike clover bear pollen, or is it an excess of 
nectar that blights the seed when the bees do not gather it? 

A. Red and alsike clover yield both nectar and pollen, but 
honey-bees do not often work on red clover. An excess of nectar 
would do no harm; but if the clovers are not visited by insects, 
especially bees, there, will be no fertilization, and so no seed. Red 
clover is mainly dependent on bumblebees for fertilization. 

Q. Will alsike clover make bee pasturage in this state (Ken- 
tucky) ? A very small amount has been sown in this country the 
last year or so, white clover being the principal source of honey. 

A. I think alsike may be counted on as a good honey-plant 
wherever white or red clover does well. 

Q. Do you think it will pay to buy alsike clover seed for 
farmers to sow within one mile — say 40 acres? Would it make 
any perceptible difference in the yield of honey? 

A. Yes, or sell it to them at a discount. 

Q. (a) W T hen should alsike clover be sowed? 

(b) How much seed should be sowed per acre? 

(c) Should it be sowed by itself, or with any other crop? 

A. (a) At the same time farmers in your locality sow red 
clover. 

(b) About four pounds. 

(c) Either way, a favorite way being to sow with oats. On 
rich ground, where the alsike would be likely to lodge badly in 
wet weather, a sprinkling of timothy is good. 

Clover, Crimson. — Q. Is the spring the proper time to sow 
crimson clover? If so, what time in the spring? 

A. If sown in the spring it should be as early as frost is well 



46 dr. miller's 

out of the ground; but oftener it is sown about the last plowing 
of corn, and not expected to bloom till the next year. 

Q. Which is the better for bees, crimson or alsike clover? 

A. All things considered, perhaps alsike. 

Q. Does crimson clover bloom the first season after sowing? 

A. Yes, if sowed early enough it may bloom the same year; 
usually not till the following year. That's in the region of 42 de- 
grees north latitude; far enough south it might more readily 
bloom the same year after early sowing. 

Clover, Red. — Q. What do you think of the long-tongued or 
red clover queens? I have seen them advertised so much. 

A. I think there is an advantage, and there may be a very 
great advantage in long tongues. In actual practice, however, I 
have come to doubt whether it is still worth while to pay any 
attention to the length of the tongues. Breed from the stock that 
gives best results. Very likely that may in most cases give long 
tongues, but whether tongues are long or short, we want bees 
that will get the most honey. Unfortunately, the quality of tongue 
length does not seem always to be handed down to succeeding 
generations. 

Clover, Sweet. — Q. When is the proper time to sow white 
sweet clover seed? 

A. When farmers in your vicinity sow red clover, alsike or 
alfalfa. 

Q. Which is the better honey producer, white or yellow sweet 
clover? 

A. Probably not much difference in yield, but the yellow is 
reputed to be about two weeks earlier than the white. That 
makes the yellow more valuable in some places, and the white in 
others. Where white clover abounds, the two weeks earlier would 
be of no advantage, as it would come at the time of white clover, 
and if the yellow also closes two weeks earlier than the white, the 
white sweet clover would be of more value. In localities where 
there is lack of forage during the first two weeks of the yellow 
sweet clover, the yellow clover has the advantage. 

Q. In reading American papers, I observe frequent references 
to sweet clover as a plant for bee-pasturage. Is it the same as 
white clover (trifolium repens), which is the staple bee-pasturage 
here during the summer months? (New Zealand.) 

A. Oh, no; it's an entirely different thing, growing sometimes 
to the height of 8 or 9 feet, although 3 or 4 feet is a more com- 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 47 

mon growth. The most common sweet clover, is melilotus alba. 
It is a biennial, coming from the seed one year, blossoming the 
next, and then dying, root and branch. Even if bees have all they 
can do on white clover, sweet clover is valuable, because while it 
begins to bloom later than white clover, it continues much later, 
even till frost. 

There is a yellow sweet clover (melilotus officinalis) which 
blooms two weeks earlier than the white. Sweet clover will 
grow where scarcely anything else will, as in a clay bank. It 
seems to flourish best, or at least to start from the seed best, on 
hard ground trodden by farm stock. 

Q. Last year white sweet clover was everywhere; this year 
there is scarcely any. Why did it not grow again this year, in- 
stead of the yellow? The bees worked on the white all the time, 
and seemed to be crazy over it, but they paid no attention to 
the yellow. 

A. Sweet clover is a biennial, growing the first year without 
blooming. Then after blooming and producing seed the second 
year it dies root and branch. So, if you sow seed one year and 
leave it to itself thereafter, the tendency would be to have bloom 
every other year. One yellow sweet clover (melilotus indica) 
blooms the first year. It is an annual. 

Q. How far north and south will sweet clover thrive and do 
well? 

A. I suppose if sweet clover may be considered as having any 
native place it is Bokhara, in Asia, about 40 degrees north of the 
equator. At any rate, it is called "Bokhara clover, ,, and years ago 
that was the chief name for it. According to that, one would 
suppose that it would be at its best on the parallel of 40, which 
runs centrally through Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Utah and Nevada. 
But it does not seem to be very limited as to its habitat. I think 
it succeeds about as far north as bees are generally kept. 

Q. Is sweet clover tender, or hardy? Will it freeze as easily 
as does corn? 

A. Hardy — very hardy. Sweet clover would only laugh at a 
freeze that would kill corn. I think I've known it to be killed 
only in two ways. One year I prepared a piece of ground in fine 
shape, sowed sweet clover with oats, and it made a fine stand. 
Next spring there wasn't a spear left. The ground was so nice 
and soft that it heaved and pulled up all the sweet clover by the 
roots. In the solid ground of the road-side I never knew it to 
winter-kill. Another year I had a piece mowed close to the 



48 dr. miller's 

ground when it had started from the seed and was nearly a foot 
high, and that finished it. 

Clover, White. — Q. What kind of clover is the best for bees? 
(Iowa.) 

A. In Iowa, probably, all things considered, no clover is 

more valuable than the common white clover. Very likely you 
have that without any sowing. If you want to sow any besides, 
try sweet clover, both the white and yellow variety. It blooms 
later than white clover. 

Q. What time of the year does white clover bloom in this 
state? (Illinois.) 

A. In the northern tier of counties it opens its first blossoms 
in the last of May or first of June, and earlier as you go south. 

Clustering Out (See Hanging Out.) 

Cockroaches. — Q. What can I do for roaches? They bother 
the bees by getting in the brood-chambers, on sections, and all 
over the inside of the hive. 

A. I didn't suppose cockroaches would do any particular 
harm in a hive where there are bees. You can poison them with 
some of the special poisons sold for that purpose, or with any 
other poison, only you musn't poison the bees. Put the poison 
between little boards only one-eighth of an inch apart, or in some 
vessel with a one-eighth inch entrance. 

Colony. — Q. How many bees are estimated to be in a medium 
populous colony? 

A. At a rough estimate, perhaps 30,000. 

Q. What would you call a good colony? 

A. A colony that, in early spring, has brood in five frames, 
Langstroth size (17^$x9^$), each frame being three-quarters or 
more filled with brood, would be a fairly good colony; with six 
or seven frames of brood it would be a very good colony. 

Color of Bees. — Q. What causes such a great diversity in color 
among the individual bees and also among the colonies in general 
whose queens are a mother and her daughters? 

A. If you have a pure Italian queen, her worker progeny all 
having the same markings, and from her rear a young queen, and 
this young queen mates with a pure Italian drone, you may ex- 
pect to find the same markings in the worker progeny of the 
young queen as arc found in the worker progeny of her mother. 
But if this young queen mates with a black drone, then you will 
find the worker progeny different, sonic o\ it looking like black 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 49 

workers and some like Italian, and perhaps intermediate mark- 
ings. 

Color Sense of Bees. — Q. What is there about the color of 
clothes to make the bees quiet when handling them? 

A. I don't know why it is ; I only know the fact, that cross 
bees are not so likely to sting one with light as with dark cloth- 
ing. I have worn a good many different pairs of mason's or 
painter's white overalls for the sake of avoiding stings. I don't 
think white clothing particularly appropriate to my style of 
beauty, and in going through town to the out-apiary, I'm not fond 
of appearing on the streets arrayed in white, but I'd rather do 
that than to take the increased number of stings with dark cloth- 
ing. But, mind you, I get all the stings I care for, even with white 
clothing. If bees are cross, they'll sting through the whitest 
clothing. 

Comb. — Q. From what do bees make comb? 

A. From what they eat — honey and pollen — much as a cow 
makes milk from what she eats. 

Q. Is the comb in comb honey injurious to a person's health? 
Most people when eating comb honey swallow the comb. 

A. Beeswax is utterly indigestible. It is sometimes used to 
make corks for bottles containing acids so powerful that they 
burn up ordinary cork, and of course the weak acids of the stom- 
ach can have no effect upon it. I have seen something about its 
being melted in the stomach; but the heat in the stomach is many 
degrees too low to melt beeswax. Even if melted, it would still 
be as indigestible as ever. But lots of indigestible things are 
taken into the stomach that do no harm; and may do good. 
When comb honey is chewed with other food and taken into the 
stomach some claim that the finely divided portions of wax are a 
benefit. Certainly they are not likely to do any harm. 

Comb Foundation. — Q. How many pounds of comb foundation 
would it take to fill one brood-chamber of 10 frames with full 
sheets? Also, to fill one super with 28 sections? 

A. For ten Langstroth frames it takes about \% pounds of 
medium brood foundation, and one pound of light brood. For 
twenty-eight sections it will take about one-quarter pound of 
thin super foundation. 

Q. What kind of foundation is best to use in the extracting 
frames? 

A. If you use shallow extracting-frames, you can use light 



50 DR. miller's 

brood foundation, only you must be careful about turning the ex- 
tractor too fast while the combs are new. Indeed you can use 
light brood with full-depth frames. 

Q. Do you consider light brood foundation sufficiently heavy 
to be used with your splints in regular Langstroth frames? 

A. Yes, only in place of five splints, as with medium, seven 
splints must be used with the light brood foundation. At least I 
did not feel safe to do with less than seven, and had good re- 
sults. 

Q. Is there any special width of foundation to use in a brood- 
chamber? 

A. It is well to have the foundation come down to within one- 
half inch of the bottom-bar. 

Q. I am going to buy foundation for 1,500 Hoffman frames for 
the next season and do not know whether to buy medium or 
light brood. I have used both and can see but little if any differ- 
ence in results. I have had no trouble with light brood sagging. 
I wire my frames, but do not use splints. Which do you think is 
the better to use? 

A. It's merely a question of which will succeed better, and as 
you have no trouble with the lighter foundation sagging, it will 
be economy to use that. 

Q. What kind of foundation would you recommend for honey 
in one-pound sections? 

A. Some prefer "extra thin," but, all things considered, my 
own preference is "thin." 

Q. W T hich is the better to use in the frames, full sheets 01 
starters? 

A. Full sheets. If you use only starters you will have entirely 
too much drone-comb. 

Q. Have bottom-starters of foundation in brood-frames ever 
been used? 

A. I am not sure whether anyone else has ever tried them, 
but I have. But I had no use for anything of the kind after 1 
found I could use full sheets of foundation clear down to the 
bottom-bar by the aid of foundation splints. 

Q. I have about 40 pounds of light foundation, two years old, 
and it seems dry. Should I use it, or have it worked over? 
A. It is all right to use as it is. 

Q. In one place you say "Have the sections filled with worker- 
foundation," and in another place I read: "Dr. Miller has for 
years described his method of using bottom starters (as well as 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 



51 



top ones) in sections of comb honey." Kindly explain this method, 
as I have never seen it in the papers. I have the Daisy founda- 
tion-fastener, and would like to try bottom and top starters. 
Would you make them meet in the center? Or how much space 
between the starters? When they are fastened only at the top, 
they twist and do not hang true. 

A. The matter is very simple, and your Daisy fastener is just 











SfeT'^jH^^Bct 


















IteiSiS 


* ^^jimH^^*®*- 



Fig. 11. — A frame containing mostly drone-brood, the result of a narrow starter 

of foundation. 



the thing to fasten a bottom as well as a top starter. It wouldn't 
do at all to let the two starters meet in the center, for in that 
case the bottom-starter would be certain to iall down and make 
a mess. When you buy foundation for sections, you are likely to 
get it in sheets 15^4x3% inches. This is just right to make four 
starters of each kind. The top-starters are 3% inches deep, and 
the bottom ones %. For a section that is four inches deep inside, 
you will see that would leave a space of ^ inch between the start- 
ers. In reality the space will generally be more than that, for 
the hot plate melts a little of the edges of the starters. First 
fasten the bottom-starter, turn the section over immediately, and 
put in the other starter. If your bees are like mine, the first 
thing the}' will do on being given the sections will be to fasten 
the upper and lower starters together. 

Even for the home market, I should prefer the bottom-starter. 
It makes a nicer looking section. Unle-ss a single starter comes 
down so far that it is likely to sag, some of the sections, espe- 
cially when honey is coming in slowly, will not be built down to 
the bottom. Although the bottom-starter is original with me, I 
don't believe I'm sufficiently prejudiced in its favor to stand the 
extra trouble unless there were a sufficient gain to pay for it. 



52 



DR. MILLER S 



Q. How many sections 4^x4^4 will one pound of thin super 
foundation fill; full sheets? 

A. About 100, or a few more. 

Q. Don't you think it would be a good plan for the manufac- 
turers of foundation to furnish the section foundation with 
drone-size base? It would save the bees considerable work in 
comb-building where full sheets are used. 

A. You would probably not like it. Generally there is less 
drone-comb in the brood-chamber than the bees would have if 
left to their own devices, and with little or no drone-comb below 
and abundance above, the queen would be likely to make trouble. 




Fig. 12. — Full sheets of foundation assure combs with a minimum of drone-brood. 



To be sure, you might keep her down with an excluder, but that 
would be trouble and expense, and you would find that some sec- 
tions would not be finished up as promptly as they should be, for 
the bees would hold the cells open for the queen. I think, how- 
ever, that if you care to try it you can get drone-foundation. 

Q. If I order more foundation than I use, how can I keep it 
from spoiling? 

A. I hardly know what you can do with it that it will not 
keep, unless you put it in an oven where it will melt, or spread it 
out in the sun and rain for a year. Just keep it covered up where- 
ever it is convenient. Even if you have it filled into sections, 
keep them where they will be dry and nice, and they will be all 
right. Although bees take hold of fresh foundation a little more 
readily than that which has been kept over, there isn't much dif- 
ference. But if you leave it on the hives in the fall, when no 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 53 

honey is coming in, it may become so bad that bees will not touch 
it next year. 

Q. Please state the advantage in using the reinforced comb 
foundation. Some claim it takes less than other comb foundation, 
being thick on top and thin on bottom. If there is any comb foun- 
dation that is better please let me know, and if it is a fake, then 
also give the facts. 

A. I did not know that it had ever been claimed that less 
foundation was needed if reinforced. Likely what you mean is 
that a less' weight of wax might be used in filling a hive with 
foundation. I do not see why that may not be true. Foundation 
for brood-combs must be of a certain weight to prevent sagging. 
But the sagging is chiefly at the top. Now, if we use lighter 
foundation and reinforce the top part, there is a saving of wax. 
It is claimed, also, that bees begin work more promptly on the 
wax that is painted on. I have never used it enough to speak 
with authority, but I do not believe there is any fake about it, 
and I do not remember having seen a report from anyone who 
condemns it after having tried it. 

Q. Is it not a fact that many combs affected with foulbrood 
and other diseases are rendered into wax, and that the founda- 
tion on sale by all dealers is contaminated more or less with this 
same wax? 

A. Undoubtedly much wax is made from foulbrood combs, 
and just as undoubtedly much of it must fall into the hands of 
the manufacturers of comb foundation. But it does not follow 
that the foundation is contaminated so as to make it in the least 
dangerous. The continued high temperature to which the wax is 
subjected, when being made into foundation, destroys the spores. 
I think that some hold, too, that even if a spore were not de- 
stroyed by the heat, it would not germinate after receiving an 
impervious coating of hot wax. 

Comb Foundation Fastening. — Q. Can full sheets of founda- 
tion be used for brood-frames without using either wire or wood- 
splints? Would it sag so as to spoil the cells for brood-rearing? 

A. Unless the foundation be extra heavy it may sag enough 
to stretch a good many of the cells in the upper part. 

Q. Please give me the method of fixing foundation (full 
sheets) in frames with wires; also starters, say 5 or 6 inches deep. 

A. I may say briefly that if you have top-bars with kerf and 
wedge, it will be easy to insert the upper edge of the sheet in the 



54 dr. miller's 

kerf, and then push in the wedge deep. Then one of the ways of 
fastening the wires in the foundation is with the spur wheel, 
doing the work in a very warm room, so the foundation will be 
soft. If you have no kerf in top-bar, then run melted wax along 
the joint between the foundation and the top-bar. 

I don't want to tell how to put in 5-inch starters, because I 
don't want you to use them. No economy in it. You will have 
entirely too much drone-comb. "You're going to use them any- 
how?" Oh, all right, then. Put them in exactly the same as full 
sheets. 

Q. Should comb foundation come close to the end-bar of the 
frame and be fastened there with wax? I wire my frames. 

A. Either will do, but it is well to have the foundation come 
close to the end-bar. It is not necessary to wax it there. 

Q. How far from the bottom-bar ought foundation to be? 
A. About one-quarter of an inch. 

Q. Can a sheet of finely woven wire be rolled between two sheets 
of wax in making the foundation for brood-combs, to take the 
place of splints or wiring frames, as now practiced? The sheets 
could be made the size desired, or the wire screen could be woven 
1-inch mesh and could readily be cut out with the scissors. 

A. Yes; such a thing has been advertised and in use for years, 
the Van Deusen flat-bottom, wired foundation, upon which there 
was a patent. Cloth and other materials, such as screen wire, 
have also been tried as a base for foundation, but in no instance 
were they successful. 

Q. How do you fasten foundation sheets to the top-bars of 
shallow frames with no grooves and wedges? 

A. With melted wax. Some use two parts wax to one of 
rosin. Make a board large enough to fit loosely inside the frame, 
nail stops on the ends so as to let the frame go down half way, 
put frame over, then the foundation in place, and pour the melted 
wax from a spoon with its point bent together, or else with a 
special dropper. The wax is likely to stick unpleasantly to the 
board unless you wet the board or else put newspaper over it. A 
brush may also be used to put on the wax. 

Q. Is it necessary to wire full sheets in shallow extracting 
frames? 

A. You can get along without wiring if you are careful. 

Comb Foundation Drawn Out. — Q. Where foundation in sec- 
tions has been partly drawn by the bees last year, will it do to use 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 55 

those sections and foundation this year, or had I better cut it out 
and put in new foundation? 

A. If it is clean, with no remains of candied honey, use it 
again. 

Q. How and when is it best to have brood-combs drawn out, 
or made from full sheets of comb foundation? 

A. Give such frames of foundation any time when bees are 
gathering more than enough honey for their daily needs, if you 
think they will not stop gathering before they have time to finish 
the combs. Of course, that's as much as to say that the very best 
time is at the beginning of a harvest that you have good reason 
to expect will last two weeks or more. A strong colony, of 
course, will need less time than a weak one. 

Q. Can I put frames with full sheets of foundation between 
two combs and get good worker-combs that are not stretched too 
much at the top? I mean without wiring. 

A. You may, by using foundation splints or very heavy foun- 
dation. Even then you will not always get the best results be- 
tween two drawn-out combs, for too often these combs will be 
bulged into the comb between them. 

Q. Will bees draw out foundation as soon when it has been 
in the frame three months as they would if only in the frame 
three weeks? I like to put my foundation in the frames in the 
winter time, when I have plenty of time. This is to be the new 
foundation just made. 

A. Speaking very strictly, I suppose the fresher the founda- 
tion is, the better. But I have used foundation that had been 
fastened in four or five years, and I've some question whether the 
bees made any great difference between that and that which had 
been put in only four or five days. At any rate, I believe it good 
policy to get it ready in advance, as you propose. 

Q. A successful honey producer says full sheets of foundation 
are drawn down to the bottom-bar very much better when 
placed in a super than in the brood-nest. Is this so? 

A. Sure. 

Comb Foundation Gnawed by Bees. — Q. What is the reason 
that the bees gnaw the foundation starters in the brood-chamber? 
I have found two or three starters lying at the bottom of the 
frames. A few days later I found a strip that they had carried 
out in front of the hive. 

A. The starter may have been insufficiently fastened; there 
may have been something objectionable about the foundation; it 
may have been that the bees were not gathering, and at such a 



56 dr. miller's 

time they will gnaw foundation as if in pure mischief. They may 
gnaw it to use the wax elsewhere about the combs. 

Comb Foundation Splints (See Splints.) 

Comb Foundation Making. — Q. I keep a few colonies of bees 
for my pleasure and have saved some wax. Now, I don't like to 
sell wax for 20 cents a pound and buy foundation for 65 or 75 
cents. Can you recommend the Rietsche press? If not, say "no" 
to my second question; but if you can, please give a few hints as 
to how to make foundation. Are you making your own founda- 
tion? Could I make foundation? I have never seen it done. 

A. My time has always been so fully occupied with other 
things that I never tried making comb foundation. Besides, I 
think I can buy it cheaper than I can make it. I use foundation 
mostly for sections, and it would take a great deal of practice to 
enable me to make anything like as nice foundation as those do 
who make a business of it. 

There are thousands of Rietsche presses in use in Europe, and 
in the foreign bee-papers one sees nothing but praise for them. 
With the instructions that you would receive with the press you 
could probably succeed, even without ever having seen foundation 
made. 

Q. What is used as a lubricant on the rollers of a foundation 
mill? The one I have sticks. I cannot set it close enough to 
make any cell-walls at that. This is the first time I am using it, as 
I had a lot of foundation bought shortly before buying the mill, 
so did not try it before.. I am using just clear water now. I 
dipped the sheets last winter. 

A. Starch is used as a lubricant, also honey or soap. If your 
sheet of wax is too cold, the wax will not be pressed up into a 
side-wall. Try having the wax warmer. 

Comb Honey, or Extracted. — Q. I have a few hives of bees and 
wish to increase, but am undecided as to which to do, buy fixtures 
for section, or extracted honey, and, if section, whether plain or 
beeway. It may save me quite an expense later on. 

A. Whether it is better to produce comb or extracted honey 
depends upon the honey and the market. The darker honeys do 
not sell so well in sections, and in some places consumers prefer 
sections so strongly that even dark honey pays better in sections. 
From what I know of your location, I think you have light honey, 
but your market for extracted honey is unusually good, so that 
my guess would be that you would do well to extract. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 57 

Comb Honey. — Q. How much honey can one expect from a 
colony during a good season, provided no increase is made? 

A. The amount varies greatly; from nothing to 300 pounds or 
more. Dr. E. F. Phillips estimates the average at 25 to 30 sec- 
tions per colony. That, of course, takes good seasons with bad. 
If you take good seasons alone, it might be twice as much. 

Q. What is the best way to handle bees in regard to room 
between the white honey-flow in June and July, and the buck- 
wheat flow in August? My bees are then too strong to occupy an 
ordinary hive-body, and if given new sections they destroy the 
foundation and spoil the sections. 

A. I don't like to get into a quarrel with you, but I am hardly 
ready to accept your statement that your bees are too strong to 
occupy an ordinary hive-body, and at the same time destroy 
foundation sections. Not but what that is true, too, but I don't 
agree with your evident belief that the bees need more super- 
room. If they tear down the foundation in sections, they are not 
gathering anything more than they need for their daily use, and 
so need no super-room. 

"Can't stay in the brood-chamber?" "Let 'em stay out, then. 
Won't hurt 'em a bit to cluster outside the hive till it is time to 
put on sections for the buckwheat ; this on the supposition that you 
want the buckwheat stored in sections. Another way is to give 
them a second story. If you haven't any extra combs to put in 
second stories, one or two combs in each story will be enough, so 
long as they are storing nothing, and you need not be troubled 
with the thought of the empty space in the upper story. 

Q. How can I bleach comb-honey? I got about 2,400 sections 
last year, and it was hard to sell it on account of its darkness. I 
see a process for bleaching it in "A, B, C of Bee Culture," but do 
you know of any better way? All the honey that is coming into 
the market is whiter than mine, and I cannot account for it. If 
you know of a way to whiten honey, please let me know. 

A. Xo ; I can give no better w r ay. It's one of the cases where 
prevention is better than cure, and I try to manage so there shall 
be as few darkened sections as possible. There are two reasons 
for sections being darkened outside — being too long on the hive, 
and being too near old, dark combs. If a super of sections be 
left on the hive until every section is completely sealed, the cen- 
tral sections are very likely to be darkened. So don't wait for 
the sealing of all the sections, but take off the super when all but 
a few of the outside ones are sealed. Perhaps the four corner 
sections will not be finished, perhaps four on each side. Then 



58 dr. miller's 

these unfinished sections are massed together and given back to 
the bees to be finished. At one time, when I used wide frames to 
hold sections, my practice was to raise a brood-comb from the 
brood-chamber and put it between two frames of sections in the 
upper story, so as to induce the bees to begin work promptly. It 
was very successful in getting the bees to darken the capping of 
the sections, for they would carry bits of dark old brood-comb 
across to use on the sections, making them dark before ever the 
capping was finished. You will probably find that a thin top-bar 
will help to darken sections, because it allows them to be nearer 
the brood-combs. On that account a top-bar seven-eighths of an 
inch thick is desirable. You may also find more trouble with shal- 
low brood-combs than the deeper ones. 

The above refers to the color of the cappings. The honey itself 
may have been dark, perhaps honey-dew. There is no known 
process to change its color. As to bleaching the surface, some 
have reported success by simply exposing it to the light. A south 
exposure, allowing direct rays of the sun to shine upon the sec- 
tions will work more rapidly than a north exposure, but care must 
be taken with a southern exposure, for in a place too confined, 
and with sections too near the glass, the heat might be so great 
as to melt the comb. 

Comb Honey, Producing. — Q. Give, the best method of working 
for comb-honey where the principal, and you might say all the 
honey-flow, comes between May 1 and 15. (Arkansas.) 

A. The only special thing in such a case is to do your best to 
have all colonies strong early enough for the harvest. You will 
find that early in the season some colonies will be much stronger 
than others, and that the weaker colonies will be very slow about 
building up. Suppose you have some colonies with eight frames 
of brood, some with seven, some with six, some with five, some 
with four and others weaker still. You can take brood from any 
colony that has more than five frames, enough to reduce it to five 
frames of brood. Now, don't bestow that brood indiscriminately 
to the weaker colonies, but let the weakest wait till the last. Give 
a frame to each colony that has only four, and when these are 
ali supplied, then help those that have only three, and so on. If 
all cannot be brought up in time, let it be the weakest ones that 
are neglected. 

Comb Honey, Removing. — Q. Do you leave your comb honey 
all on the hive until the honey season is over, or do you take it 
off as fast as finished? 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 59 

A. I take off a super as soon as it is all sealed except the cor- 
ner sections, although often these will be finished, too. 

Comb Honey, Shipping. — Q. Please give instructions how to 
crate and ship comb honey. 

A. When you get the shipping-cases that are now furnished 
b> supply dealers you will hardly need instruction's for using 
them, for you can hardly case the sections wrong, they being so 
placed that one row comes directly against the glass so as to show 
the face of the honey. It is of first importance that this row next 
the glass be a fair sample of the whole case for the man who 
veneers by putting next the glass the best and inferior honey 
back of it, will in the long run be the loser by it. 

Unless there be so large a quantity of honey that it can be 
fastened solidly in the car, it should be put in the crates sold by 
some supply dealers, the crates so placed that the ends of the 
sections shall be towards the front and rear, so as to stand the 
bumping of the cars. On the contrary, if the sections are hauled 
on a wagon, they should pe placed crosswise. 

Q. When is the best time to ship comb honey? 
A. Generally about as soon as it is ready. In very cold 
weather combs are in danger of breaking. 

Comb Honey, Watery Cappings. — Q. What is the cause and 
remedy of comb honey having a water-soaked appearance? The 
cappings lie right on the honey. The honey tastes the same as any 
other, but it does not look as good as where the capping is pure 
white. I have a colony that produced 100 pounds more this season 
than any of the others, but a good many of the sections had this 
watery look. 

A. You have answered the question yourself, when you say, 
"The cappings lie right on the honey." In other words, the bees 
fill the honey right up to the cappings, leaving no air-space be- 
tween the capping and the honey. The remedy is to change the 
queen, or else use the colony for extracted honey. Any section 
may also acquire the same appearance after it is taken from the 
hive, no matter how white the bees made it, if it is put in a damp 
place. Honey is deliquescent, attracting moisture from damp air, 
and should be kept in a warm, dry place. Where salt will keep 
dry is likely to be a good place to keep honey. 

Combs. — Q. How can I know the different kinds of combs? 
A. The greater part of the combs in a hive you will find to be 
worker-comb, made up of cells that measure five to the inch. 



60 dr. miller's 

Drone-comb is made up of cells that measure four to the inch. 
Generally you will find where the change is made from one kind to 
the other there will be a few irregular cells, called transition cells, 
Then there is also the queen-cell, still larger than either of the 
other kinds, measuring three to the inch. More nearly correct it 
is to say that a queen-cell is a third of an inch in diameter, for 
you never find a piece of comb made up entirely of queen-cells. 
Generally each queen-cell is by itself; and even if you find several 
queen-cells apparently close in a group, you will not find three 
such cells in the compass of an inch. 

Combs Breaking. — Q. My bees are doing nicely now, but I 
have trouble with combs of honey breaking and dropping down, 
caused by the heat. I have covers on all the hives, but the sun 
strikes the hive front. Is there any remedy for this? 

A. The probability is that two things were responsible for the 
trouble. One was that the entrance of the hive was too small, 
giving the bees too little chance for ventilation. The other was 
that there was too little chance for circulation of air about the 
hive; buildings, trees, or bushes preventing a free movement of 
air. Years ago I had combs melt down in a hive — I think I never 
had them melt down in any other case — and the sun never shone 
on the front of the hive, nor any other part of the hive. The 
hive stood in a very dense shade, a thicket of bushes on one side, 
and tall corn on the other. The entrance was not very large, but 
I think the combs would not have melted if the hive had stood 
out in the sun all day long, provided there had been full chance 
for the breeze. 

Combs, Preserving. — Q. (a) Does it injure empty extracting 
combs to keep them where the temperature goes below freezing? 

(b) If not, would it be safe to stack then up in the yard with 
a sheet of heavy tarred paper between each super? 

A. (a) The combs may be slightly cracked with very hard 
freezing, but that is a small matter compared with the advantage 
that freezing kills all the beemoth, their larvae, and even their 
eggs. I should certainly prefer to have the combs exposed to 
freezing all winter. 

(b) That will be all right. 

Combs, Moldy. — Q. If empty drawn combs remain in the hives 
all summer, and the hives are clean, is there danger of the combs 
becoming moldy? If such hives were not used, would you close 
up the entrances to keep out moths? 

A. Xo danger of mold unless you keep the combs in a cellar 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 61 

or damp room. I've some question whether you can close the 
hives tight enough to keep out moths. They squeeze through a 
very small crack. But if the combs are in a close building the 
moths are not likely to find them. Yet it is a pretty safe guess 
that, if colonies died on them, the worms are there already. In 
that case, whatever combs cannot be put in the care of the bees 
should be treated with sulphur fumes, or, still better with bisulfide 
of carbon. 

The moldy combs will be cleaned up by the bees when given 
them. 

Combs, Old. — Q. Will combs that have had brood reared in 
them from one to three years spoil the color and flavor of honey 
if used for extracting-frames? 

A. There may be a slight difference, but you probably could 
not tell the honey from that stored in newly built combs. 

Q. When having old combs in frames taken from colonies 
that died during the winter, to what extent is it good practice to 
dig the dead bees out of the comb? 

A. Brush off all the bees you can, hold the frame flat and 
shake vigorously, shaking some of the bees out of the cells ; leave 
those that will not shake out for the bees to dig out; they can do 
it cheaper than you. 

Q. I have some brood-combs; they are black. I also have 
some that the moths have been in, that I lost earlier. Are those 
combs any good, or had I better throw them away? I thought 
I could use them for natural or artificial swarms. 

A. If not too badly torn by worms they are all right to use 
again. 

Q. How many years of constant use for brood can worker- 
comb have without diminishing the size of the bees? I have read 
that the cocoons left behind imperceptibly diminish the size of 
the cells of the future occupants, and prevent the bees from at- 
taining their full development and size. 

A. I have combs that are 30 years old or more, and I cannot 
see that the bees reared in them are any smaller than those 
reared in new combs. I remember that one of the patient foreign 
investigators — a German, I believe, whose name does not now oc- 
cur to me — took the trouble to measure the contents of cells in 
combs very old and new, by actually filling them with liquid, and 
he found that the old cells contained just as much liquid as the 
new. The idea that the cells become smaller with age has been 
taught faithfully for many years, and there are still some who 



62 dr. miller's 

advise that combs be renewed every four or five years, but I 
think the idea is based only upon theory. Without any careful 
examination one might easily conclude that as something more 
than was there before is left in the cell, every time a young bee is 
reared in it, the cell must necessarily become smaller. But ex- 
amine carefully and you'll find that the diameter of the cell at its 
mouth remains the same. You will probably find that the bees 
gnaw out some of the cocoon at the sides, leaving it at the bot- 
tom. That, of course, will make the cell shallower, but to make 
up for that, the bees add fresh wax to the cell-wall at the mouth 
of the cell. If they add to the cell-wall at the mouth, that ought 
to increase the thickness of the comb, oughtn't it? Well, that's 
exactly what it does. Measure the thickness of a piece of worker- 
comb from which the first batch of brood has just emerged, and 
you will find it measures seven-eighths of an inch. Take one old 
enough, and it will be fully an inch thick, and you will find the 
septum one-eighth of an inch thick. The only practical danger 
is that if the combs get to be old enough the spacing from center 
to center may become too small; in other words, the space be- 
tween two combs becomes smaller. Don't worry about good, 
straight combs being hurt with age. 

Combs, Rendering into Wax. — Q. I have a lot of combs from 

hives in which the bees winter-killed; also from late swarms last 

year that starved out during the long, cold winter. How can I 
convert these combs into beeswax? 

A. If you have enough to make it worth while, the best way to 
get the wax out of your combs is to get one of the wax-presses or 
extractors that will leave in the remains a very small amount of 
wax. For a very few combs, however, it may not pay to spend 
much, and the solar extractor will do. You may also get out a 
large per cent with a dripping-pan. Take an old dripping-pan 
(of course, a new one would answer), split it open at one cor- 
ner, put it in the oven of a cook-stove, with the split end pro- 
jecting out of the oven so that a vessel set under it will catch the 
dripping wax. Put a pebble or something else under the inside 
corner, so as to make the wax flow outward. If the comb be pre- 
viously soaked with water several days, and a single comb at a 
time be laid in the pan, the wax will not be tempted to hide in 
the cups made by the cocoons. But it will be slow work. You 
may also break the combs up into bits, provided you can have 
them cold enough to be brittle, put them in a gunny sack in a 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 



63 



boiler or other vessel on the stove, weight down the sack, work- 
ing it occasionally with a stick, and skim off the wax as it rises. 
With old combs, in which many generations of bees have been 
reared, it hardly pays to render the wax without water, for a 




Fig. 13. — A modern wax-rendering equipment. 

great deal of it is soaked in the cocoons and cast skins of the 
larvae. Soaking these in water first, prevents the wax adhering to 
the residue, or slumgum, as they call it. 

But in these latter days it's hardly worth while for you to fuss 
extracting wax from your combs when 3^011 can send the combs to 
those who advertise to receive them and extract the wax for you, 
(and they'll get out more wax than you will), and allow you pay 
for the combs in wax or foundation. 

Combs, Straight. — Q. I have one colony with combs built 
crosswise. How would you manage to get them straight?' 

A. It may be part of the frames are straight and the others 
only a little crooked. In that case you might be able to cut away 
the attachments and straighten the comb into its own frame. If 



64 dr. miller's 

all the combs are very crooked, you may consider it as a box- 
hive. 

Q. How do you get straight combs built? Last year I used 
full sheets of foundation. The frames were wired with four hori- 
zontal wires. Almost every one "buckled" between the wires, and 
they are a bad lot of combs. 

A. I wonder if you didn't depend entirely on the wires. The 
foundation should be fastened securely to the top-bar, either by 
means of the kerf and wedge, or, what some think better in a 
very dry climate, waxing the foundation to the top-bar; that is, 
running melted wax along the edge of the foundation on the top- 
bar. But you will probably have less sagging of foundation if 
you use foundation splints that are described fully in this book, 
as well as in the book, "Fifty Years Among the Bees." 

Combs, Weight of. — Q. How much will ten frames of empty 
combs weigh, new and old, size 17^x9^, top-bar one inch? How 
much wax will ten combs produce, if rendered? 

A. They vary very much with age. A weighing just made 
shows ten old ones weighing W/z pounds. I have no new ones to 
weigh, but they would be much lighter. Ten average combs will 
yield from 1% to 2y 2 pounds of wax. 

Concrete (See Cement.) 

Corn Flower. — Q. Do bees gather nectar from corn flowers? 

A. Yes, if by corn-flower you mean the flower Centaurea Cy- 
anus. If you mean the tassels of Indian corn, I think they get 
only pollen. 

Cotton. — Q. There is a large amount of cotton near Phoenix. 
Does cotton in Arizona yield much honey? 

A. Cotton is a good honey plant in the southern states, and 
likely, also, with you. 

Cottonwood. — Q. Is cottonwood lumber good for beehives? 
Is basswood? 

A. Both are bad for lumber for hives. 

Q. Do bees gather much honey from the blossom of the cot- 
tonwood tree? 

A. I think not; if your cottonwood is like the cottonwood of 
Illinois. 

Covers. — (J. What kind of a cover do you use? 

A. A flat cover with a dead air-space covered with zinc or 
tin. The upper and the lower parts are each of three-eighths inch 
Stuff, with tile grain running in opposite directions, separated by 
strips or cleats three-eighths inch thick. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 65 

Q. Would you advise deep or shallow covers? 

A. For my own use I prefer the flat cover (I have no trouble 
with rain beating in,) although some good beekeepers prefer deep 
covers. 

Q. I have a lot of telescope covers 11 inches deep. Will it be 
all right to put them on in winter, or will they keep the bees too 
warm? 

A. Xo danger of keeping too warm. 

Q. What do you think of the "Colorado" cover? 

A. It's a good cover. 

Q. Are metal-roof covers for hives with inner covers better 
than wooden covers? If so, why? 

A. Their chief advantage is that they are always rain-proof. 

Cow Peas. — Q. Do bees gather honey from cow peas? We 
had about three acres of cow peas here last year, and it appeared 
that all our bees worked on them for three of four weeks, as it 
seemed there were thousands, and the queer thing to me was 
that they did not work on the bloom, but on the joint just below 
the bloom or young pea. Was it wax or honey? 

A. Cow peas are counted honey-plants. There are different 
plants which, at least at times, secrete nectar elsewhere than in 
the blossoms. When you see bees working as busily as you say 
they were on your cow peas, you may be sure they were getting 
either nectar or pollen. If you see no pollen on their legs you 
may be sure they are getting nectar. They don't gather wax, 
they secrete it; but they gather bee-glue. 

Cucumbers. — Q. How is cucumber as a nectar-yielding plant? 
How many colonies could be kept at one place to the best advan- 
tage, when the farmers raise one-quarter to two acres each? 

A. Hard to tell. Depends somewhat upon size of farms. If 
each farmer plants half an acre, you will readily see that there 
will be four times as much pasturage if the farms average 40 
acres as if they average 160 acres. I should guess that 100 colo- 
nies might do well with one acre in every 100 in cucumbers. 

Cushions, Chaff. — Q. What is the best way to make chaff 
cushions for hives to winter bees in? 

A. Make a plain bag a little larger than the size of the re- 
quired cushion closed on all sides except enough for an opening 
on one side to admit "stuffing." At each corner sew a straight 
seam as long as the depth of the cushion. Don't sew it with the 
bag lying flat for that would spoil the shape of your cushion. In- 



66 ' dr. miller's 

stead of that pinch the cloth together sidewise at each corner, 
making a seam that will be vertical in the finished cushion, making 
the cushion box-shaped. Fill the cushion and sew up the hole. 
Cork dust may be used as stuffing instead of chaff. 

Cypress. — Q. What do you think of cypress hives? Are they 
as good as white pine? 

A. Probably they are as good; some say they are more dur- 
able. 

Cyprians. — Q. Are the Cyprians better honey gatherers than 
the Italians? Of what color are they? 

A. They are not generally considered better. Cyprian bees 
look very much like Italians, but the yellow bands are a trifle 
wider and deeper in color, more like copper. 

Q. Are Cyprian queens more prolific than other races? 

A. I don't think they have that reputation. 

Q. Have you had any personal experience with Cyprians? If 
SO, describe the hustling qualities, comb-capping, comparative 
size of bee, color (full), longevity, and disposition of the pure bee. 

A. I never had but one colony of Cyprians, and that was 
several years ago, and 1 can only tell about them as I remember 
them. In industry, comb-capping and size, they did not especially 
differ Erom Italians, it" at all. 1 do not recall whether they dif- 
fered in color, and I know nothing about their longevity. They 
have the reputation of being very cross, but did not distinguish 
themselves in that way. The most notable thing about them was 
that they would start the largest number of queen-cells of all the 
bees I ever knew. 

Daisies. — Q. \)o wild daisies produce nectar: 
A. No, not to speak of. 
Dampness (See Moisture.) 

Dandelions. — Q, Do bees gather honey from dandelion blos- 
soms? 

A. Yes, they gather a large amount from dandelions. It comes 
rather early for surplus, but it is oi immense value for brood- 
rearing. Dandelions also have a great deal i>\ pollen, which helps 
in early brood-rearing. 

Danzenbaker Hive. — O. I> the Danzenbaker hive as good as 

any for comb honey i 

A. Some are enthusiastic Over it; some condemn it severely. 

After a limited experience with it, 1 .still prefer the regular 8- 



THOUSAND ANSWKRS 



67 



frame dovetailed hive. A single objection would bar it out for 
your use. I had more pollen in sections with one Danzenbaker 

hive than with 50 others, probably because of its shallowness. 

Dead Colonies. — Q. What is the best thing- to do with hives 
in which bees have died during the winter? There is quite a lot 
of honey in them. 

A. They're the nicest sort oi things in which to hive your 
swarms. Keep them shut until you need them, to keep out robber 
bees and moths. 

Decoy Hives. — O. Will you please explain decoy hives. I have 




Fig. ii. Decoy hives on the root" of a shed-apiary. 

seen the word used several times in the American Bee Journal. I 
believe that they are used to attract swarms. 

A. Leave an empty hive anywhere where a swarm may enter 
of its own accord — that's a decoy hive. 

Q. How do you fix decoy hives to catch swarms? 

A. There is no fixing needed, any more than in getting a hive 
ready for a swarm. If you put in the hive one or more empty 
brood-combs it will be more attractive to the heemoth, for which 
you must look out. 

Q. In the decoy hives will strips of foundation in the frames 
do as well as frames of comb? W r ill the bees take to the founda- 
tion as readily? 

A. No; old combs are away ahead of foundation; indeed, I 
suspect an entirely empty hive is nearly as good as foundation. 



68 dr. miller's 

Desertion of Swarms. — Q. A neighbor of mine says that when 
he kept bees and was ready to hive a swarm, he would first wash 
the hive thoroughly with salt water, and then hive the bees ; and 
said he never had a swarm leave when he hived it in that way. 
What do you think of it? 

A. Washing out a hive with salt and water is an excellent 
thing, if the hive is dirty. It might do as well without the salt. 
If the hive is clean, it may do as well without any washing. The 
principal precaution against having a swarm desert the hive is to 
see that the hive is well shaded and ventilated. You can wash a 
hive in an ocean of salt water, and if you set it in the hot sun 
with a small entrance, a swarm may desert it. 

Q. I had 32 colonies of bees, and I have lost five of them. They 
will swarm and come out of their own hive and settle on the out- 
side of some of the other hives, and leave their own hives empty, 
with lots of honey in them. When they settle on the other hives 
it causes a fight. What makes the bees do this? 

A. Bees sometimes seem to have a mania for deserting their 
hives in spring and trying to force their way into other hives, and 
it isn't easy to say just why. Some think because they are weak 
and discouraged. Some think because they have started a lot of 
brood, and then the old bees have died off so rapidly that enough 
are not left to cover the brood. In any case the advice given is 
to have only strong colonies in the fall. This is sound advice on 
general principles, even if there should be some absconding the 
following spring in spite of strong colonies. 

Diseases and Enemies of Bees (See Foulbrood, Dysentery, Bee 
Paralysis, Moths, Isle of Wight.) 

Distance Bees Fly. — Q. How far will Italian bees go for nec- 
tar in a fairly good clover location, with 100 colonies in the apiary 
and about 100 acres of alsike within two miles of the apiary? 

A. Italian bees, or any other bees, work perhaps to good ad- 
vantage a distance of one- and one-half to two miles — perhaps 
farther. In the cases you mention they would probably go that 
distance. The lay of the land governs to some extent the distance 
oi their flight. 

Q. My apiary is lj/g miles from the Red River bottom — a bot- 
tom about eight miles wide, containing a very dense forest. It is 
about five miles to the river where there is a very extensive agri- 
cultural business carried on. I can see my bees going to the bot- 
toms. How far do you think they will go in the bottoms? 

A. Bees have been known to go as much as seven miles, but 
probably not with profit more than two or three. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 69 

Q. How far will a drone fly from a hive? How far will a 
virgin queen fly from a hive? 

A. I don't know, and I'm afraid you'll never know. I think 
it has been said that a drone may meet a virgin whose home is 
four or Ave miles from his home, although as a rule such long 
flights are not made. Some think that a mile is as far apart as 
the two homes usually are. But if you knew exactly how far 
apart the two homes are, you are still in the dark as to how 
much of the distance is made by the drone and how much by the 
virgin. 

Dividing (See Increase.) 

Division-Boards. — Q. Of what use are division-boards, and 
how often should they be used? 

A. A division-board, properly so-called, is a thin board more 
or less tight-fitting that divides a hive into two separate compart- 
ments, as when a hive is to be used for two or more nuclei, or 
when a colony is too small to occupy the whole of the hive. In 
this sense there are very few division-boards, but a dummy is 
really the thing that is meant. A dummy is loose-fitting, not 
longer nor deeper than the frame of the hive. It may be less 
than that. Dummies are in use in my hives all the time, winter 
and summer. The frames do not entirely fill the hive, and the 
dummy fills up the vacant space at one side. It is much easier to 
get out the dummy than to get out the first frame where there 
is no dummy, and after the dummy is out it is easy to get out the 
frames. If less than the full number of frames is in the hive, one 
or more dummies are placed next to the exposed frame. 

Doolittle System of Honey Production. — 0. What is the Doo- 
little system of comb-honey production? 

A. A book called "A Year's Work in an Out Apiary" gives in 
full the system that Mr. Doolittle follows, which is a combination 
of good things more or less in general use, given by the author 
in an interesting way. Of course, it would be out of the question 
to give details here, but only one special feature may be men- 
tioned, and that is that early in the season he puts over the hive 
a second story containing combs with more or less honey, an ex- 
cluder between the two stories, and then when the time comes 
that there is danger of swarming, or just before the honey-flow, 
he takes away the brood of the lower story, giving the colony 
the combs of the upper story. 

Drone-Brood. — Q. Is it common to find considerable drone- 



70 dr. miller's 

brood in worker-cells in colonies where all combs were drawn 
from worker foundation, the drone-brood being started in 
spring at the beginning of brood-rearing, and a considerable 
quantity of it being intermixed with the worker-brood? 

I notice it in one of my two colonies, and it seems to be 
largely in the upper part of the comb. Is it on account of the 
foundation sagging, thus making the cells a trifle larger? The 
queen in this hive was of last season's rearing, would you think 
because of this drone-brood that she was inferior? 

A. It is not common. 

If the cells in the upper part of the comb are larger because of 
stretching of foundation it may have some effect in preventing the 




Fig. 15. — The bees patch up holes in combs with drone-cells unless worker-comb 
or foundation is inserted by the beekeeper. 

queen from laying in these cells, and if she does lay in them the 
eggs may be drone-eggs. If drone-brood is found only in these 
enlarged cells, it ought hardly to condemn the queen. If, however, 
drone-brood is mixed in with the worker-brood of regular size, 
the probability is that the queen is beginning to fail, no matter 
what her age and very likely it will not be long till she becomes a 
drone-layer. 

Q. Is it safe to uncap drone-brood and then put it back in 
the hive for the bees to clean the cells? 

A. Entirely safe ; but you can save the bees the labor of 
cleaning out the cells, and also save the considerable amount of 
food fed to the larvae if you cut out each patch of drone-comb and 
put in its place a patch of worker-comb. 

Drone -Comb. — Q. In reading the American Bee Journal, I see 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 



71 



drone-comb spoken of a great deal. Please explain how I may 
be able to know drone-comb. 

A. Lay a rule on the surface of the comb. If the cells measure 
five to the inch they are worker-cells. If they measure four to 
the inch, they are drone-cells. 

Q. How many drone-cells do you think it is necessary to have 
in each hive? Some of my hives had so much drone-comb that I 
melted some of it up and put in foundation. 

A. I doubt that it is really necessary to have any drone- 
comb except in those hives which contain such good stock that 




Fig. 16. Even with full sheets of foundation, many times more than enough 
drone-brood will be built in odd places by the bees. 

you want to rear drones from them. Some, however, believe in 
having perhaps two inches square in each hive. 

Q, If bees are given full sheets of foundation will there be 
any drone-cells? 

A. None to speak of; but the bees are likely to find some 
little vacancy that they can fill with drone-cells. Practically 
speaking, however, there will be no drone-comb if the frames are 
entirely filled with worker-foundation. 

Q. When is the best time to cut out drone-comb to prevent 
more being built? 

A. It doesn't matter when, if you fill the hole with worker- 



72 dr. miller's 

comb or comb-foundation, only it will be easier to do it in spring, 
when the comb is empty. 

Q. Do you think bees will rear workers if shaken in a hive 
with a queen, in a full set of all drone-combs? 

A. I tried that once, and the bees wouldn't stay; swarmed out. 
In other cases, where there was an excess of drone-comb, they 
reared an excess of drones; but in some cases they narrowed 
the mouths of the drone-cells and reared workers. 

Drone-Eggs. — Q. How can I get the queen that I want, to lay 
drone-eggs? If I give drone-comb they rear workers just the 
same. 

A. A little before harvest time, strengthen the colony by 
giving it additional sealed brood from other colonies, and if there 
is drone-comb in the brood-nest she'll lay in it. 

Drone-Layers. — Q. Does an old queen ever get so she will lay 
only drone-eggs? 

A. In many cases the contents of the spermatheca become 
exhausted, which will be shown by part of the brood hatching 
out of worker-cells as drones, finally there being only drones. 

Drone-Trap. — Q. I have a drone-trap or swarm-guard. I don't 
have any success with it. How should I use it, and why should I 
catch the drones? 

A. A drone-trap attached to the entrance catches the drones 
as they attempt to leave the hive, when you can maltreat them 
in any way you wish. The intention generally is thus to sup- 
press the drones of the poorer colonies, leaving the chances in 
favor of having your virgin queens fertilized by drones from 
your best colonies. In the same way you may catch the queen of 
an issuing swarm, should one issue when you are not present, 
thus preventing the swarm from going off with the queen, and 
allowing you to remove the brood and leave the swarm with the 
queen. But this does not settle matters, for the bees may go on 
swarming so long as the queen is with them, and when a young 
queen emerges from her cell the bees will swarm again, and if 
the young queen is prevented from going out with a swarm she 
will also be prevented from going out to be fertilized, and then, 
i f she lays at all, she will be a drone-layer. 

Drone-traps should be used only in extraordinary circum- 
stances, and are rarely used by practical beekeepers. 

Drones. — Q. At what time do bees begin to rear drones? 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 73 

A. Eggs are likely to be laid in drone-cells as soon as there 
is a considerable flow, and drones will appear 24 days later. 
Q. Will drones stay with a colony of bees without a queen? 
A. Yes, better than with a queen. 

Q. Two of my hives have some drones yet (November.) Why 
is it? 

A. Tm afraid they're queenless; yet it sometimes happens 
that drones are suffered late where there is a good queen and 
plenty of honey. 

Q. I find that one of my colonies is still rearing drones. The 
queen looks all right. She has been one of the best among 65. She 
is supposed to be young as she came through the mail in May, 
and I started her with a small bunch of bees, and she built up a 
strong colony. I didn't notice any drones until lately. (January.) 

A. The queen may be all right and she may be all wrong. It 
sometimes happens that a colony takes a notion to cherish some 
drones after drones are generally killed off, keeping them through 
the winter, while the queen is all right, but the fear is that your 
queen has become a drone-layer, even if she is not old. You can 
probably tell by the sealed brood next spring or even now, if 
there is any sealed brood present. If you find cappings of worker- 
cells flat, that's all right. If they are raised and rounded, like so 
many little marbles, the queen is a drone-layer, and should be 
killed. To be sure, there has been known such a thing as a queen 
getting over being a drone-layer, as W. M. Whitney has reported, 
but you better not count on that. 

Q. My bees had no drones to speak of this season, except on 
two or three days, when I saw four or five flying from two hives, 
and the bees killed them right away. What was the cause? 

A. The absence of drones may be due to the poorness of the 
season. Keeping drones is a sort of luxury that bees indulge in 
when they are prosperous, and when forage is scarce they do 
not feel they can afford it. 

Q. My nearest beekeeping neighbor is a mile and one-quarter. 
If I stock up with Italians is there much danger of my queens be- 
ing fertilized by his black drones? I use full sheets of foundation, 
and have very few drones. He uses only starters, and I saw whole 
frames in his hives that were built out solid with drone-comb, ex- 
cept two inches where the starter was. He had six colonies, and 
got no surplus. They swarmed as soon as they got a half-gallon of 
bees in a hive, and I don't want any of his stock, but would like 
to rear most of my own queens. Two of those I reared were 
larger and better layers than the one I bought. 



74 • DR. miller's 

A. The probability is that your neighbor's drones will be 
obliging enough to meet most of your queens. Can't you get him 
to change to Italian blood? 

Q. Would you advise rearing drones and queens from the 
same mother? 

A. It will be better to rear queens from your very best 
colony and drones from a few of the next best. Yet if you should 
try to rear queens and drones both from the same colony it is 
not certain that much harm would come from it, for the young 
queens would be likely to meet drones from other colonies, per- 
haps from a colony a mile or more away. 

Q. I thought I saw a few black drones in an Italian colony. 
Do you think I was right, or was I fooled in the kind of bees? 

A. Nothing strange about it. Drones are freebooters, and in 
prosperous times will be accepted in any colony. So black drones 
may have come from some other colony. It is also true that pure 
Italian drones are sometimes very dark when the workers are 
properly marked. • 

Q. Are the drones from a mismated Italian queen still pure 
Italian, or are they hybrids? 

A. It is generally considered that the drone progeny is not af- 
fected by the mating of the queen, although some maintain that 
the blood of the queen may be so affected as to affect the char- 
acter of the drone progeny slightly in the direction of the drone 
which the queen met. 

Q. I have one colony that has two kinds of drones. About 
half show yellow bands, while the others do not. The workers do 
not all show three yellow bands. What race are they? 

A. The drones are not uniform, and only the workers are re- 
lied on to decide purity. Your colony of bees that do not all show 
three yellow bands is hybrid unless some bees have entered 
from other hives — a thing that often occurs. To be sure entirely, 
examine the young bees that have not left the hive; if all of these 
have three yellow bands you may count them Italians. 

Q. About how many drones should there be in a healthy 
colony? 

A. Some think it best to try to keep them down altogether, 
except in one or more of the best colonies. I think G. M. Doolit- 
tle allows to each colony what drones they can rear in a square 
inch of drone-comb. 

Q. When should the drones be caught? Why are there so 
many when it is only necessary for them to meet the queen once? 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 75 

A. Any time. Prevention, however, is better than cure. Allow 
very little drone-comb in your hives and you'll have few drones. 

For greater safety to the queen. If there was only one drone 
for each queen, the queen might make many trips before mating. 

Drumming. — Q. What do you mean, in answering queries, by 
"drumming" the bees out of a hive in transferring, and how is it 
done? Is it knocking on the sides or top, and for how long, and 
how hard? Do you use just the fingers, or fist, or stick? 

A. Turn a hive upside down, drum on the sides of the hive 
with your fists or a heavy stick on the opposite sides, and if you 
drum long enough with heavy strokes you will set the bees to 
running up into whatever is placed over. No light tapping with 
your fingers will do, neither with the fists, unless strong and 
heavy. 

Dummies. — Q. What are dummies? What is their construc- 
tion and use ? 

A. Take a top-bar and nail a board on so that the length of 
the board is the same as the length of a frame, and the depth of 
top-bar and all the same as the depth of frame, top-bar and all. 
That's your dummy. It may be an inch thick, or anything less 
down to one-quarter inch. It is used to fill up an}' space desired, 
and especially at one side of a hive. If no dummy is in the hive 
it is hard to get out the first frame, if the frames are self-spacing 
or fixed-distance frames. If there is a space filled with a dummy 
at one side, it is easy to take out the dummy, and then easy to 
take out any desired frame. 

(See also Division-Boards.) 

Q. You are often called upon to explain what dummies are, 
how they are made, and how used in the hives. In confining a 
small colony to one side of the hive, do you fill the empty space 
with anything? 

A. A weak colony, say one that needs only four frames, may 
have a dummy at one side of the frames with the remaining space 
in the hive left entirely vacant; only the dummy must be moved 
and a frame or frames added as needed. Generally, however, 
when one has a weak colony of that kind which is expected to 
build up, one has enough empty combs to fill up the hive, and in 
that case I wouldn't use a dummy at all. You may ask whether 
the bees would not be warmer to have the combs that are occupied 
shut off from the empty combs by a dummy. One would naturally 
think so, yet experiments carefully made, if I remember rightly, 



76 dr. miller's 

by Prof. Gaston Bonnier, showed that the empty combs were just 
as good as a board partition. 

For winter, the space behind a dummy may be filled with warm 
absorbents. 

Dwindling. — Q. (a) Why do some colonies (having plenty of 
stores and a fairly good number of bees) start brood-rearing in 
the latter part of winter and get a good deal of capped brood 
and brood in all stages, and when cold weather comes the whole 
outfit dies? This has happened with me two seasons. 

(b) How can I avoid this thing? 

A. (a) This seems to be a case of what is called spring 
dwindling. The cause is somewhat in doubt. It looks a little as 
if the bees were old, had more brood started than they could take 
care of, then died off with the strain of trying to provide digested 
food for the brood, sometimes swarming out with plenty of food 
in the hive. 

(b) I don't know, unless it be to have colonies strong with 
bees not too old the preceding fall. 

Dysentery (See Diarrhea.) 

Dzierzon Theory. — Q. The following was copied from a daily 
paper. Is the doctrine true? I have never heard of it before. 

"The strangest thing that Mr. Watts told the Review reporter 
was that the drones are produced from unfertilized eggs. One 
with experience with poultry would expect such eggs to fail to 
hatch. Scientists, both by microscopical examination of the eggs 
found in drone combs and by studying the life history of bees, 
have proven that the drone actually has only one parent, the 
queen mother, and every observing apiarist has seen convincing 
evidence of this fact." 

A. Of all the bee journals of any language in the world, the 
one that I have valued most is the first volume of the American 
Bee Journal. That was published in 1861. Its chief value consists 
in the fact that it gives a full discussion of the Dzierzon theory, 
the kernel of which is that the queen is fertilized once for life, 
laying fertilized and unfertilized eggs, and that the unfertilized 
eggs produce only drones. In the half century since then there 
has been some attempt to controvert the Dzierzon theory, espe- 
cially by Ferdinand Dickel, but intelligent beekeepers quite gen- 
erally accept it; so that the clipping is all right. 

Egg-Laying. — Q. When does the queen begin laying in the 
spring? 

A. In a colony wintered outdoors she begins, in the north, in 
February, or even in January. In Texas, probably earlier. If 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 77 

cellared, she begins about the time bees are taken out of the 
cellar. 

Q. What would you think of a queen that fills every cell in 
most of the combs with eggs, and in numerous places has eggs 
in half-built cells, and in cells filled with beebread? 

A. That is just what every good queen should do, except lay- 
ing in a cell containing pollen. When you find eggs in a 
pollen-cell you may generally count that laying workers are pres- 
ent, although it is possible that occasionally an otherwise good 
queen may do such a foolish thing. 

Eggs. — Q. Has the queen the power to fertilize eggs or not? 
A. Sure. She fertilizes all but the drone-eggs. 

Q. In regard to bee-eggs, is there'any difference or distinction 
between the eggs from which a queen and worker are hatched or 
reared? If I am correct, bee-men use any tgg they may come to 
when transferring eggs to queen-cells, and the difference results 
from the size of cell and the material on which the young bees 
are fed. 

A. An egg laid by a good queen in a queen-cell is precisely the 
same as one she lays in a worker-cell. A drone-egg is a different 
thing. A drone-egg is unfertilized and can produce nothing but 
a drone, even if fed in a queen-cell; other eggs are fertilized. 

Q. I have only one colony of bees, in which I find many cells 
with from 2 to 6 eggs in each. And at the front end of some of 
the combs there are cells that seem to have 30 or 40 eggs in each. 
I never saw anything like it before. I could not find the queen. 
Did laying workers try to fill the cells with eggs? 

A. Almost certainly it is laying workers. You will probably 
find that if any drone-cells are in the brood-nest the nuisances 
have been specially favorable to them. Also, you will be likely 
to find one or more queen-cells, and in these there may be as 
many as a dozen eggs in each. Better break up the whole busi- 
ness, giving combs with adhering bees to other colonies. 

Q. I have a queen that I reared in a nucleus. She is of good 
size and pure Italian; very gentle. I have seen her lay while 
holding up the comb, but I have counted as many as six eggs in 
one cell. What do you think is the matter with her? She is in a 
hive, but the bees cover only four frames in it. Do you think 
there ought to be more bees in it so the queen could have more 
room? 

A. It is nothing unusual for a good queen to lay more than 
one egg in a cell when she has so small a force of bees that she 
hasn't room to spread herself; although it is unusual for her to 



78 dr. miller's 

lay so many as six in a cell. If she keeps supplied with eggs, all 
the cells that the bees cover, you needn't worry about her throw- 
ing in a few for good measure. If, however, she lays duplicates in 
a few of the cells and leaves other available cells empty, there is 
something wrong, and if she persists in that line of conduct she 
should lose her head. But it happens sometimes that a queen 
will lay in an abnormal manner for a week or so, and then 
straighten up and lay as good queens should. 
The likelihood is that your queen is extra good. 

Q. Why do queenless colonies eat or destroy eggs given them 
to rear a queen? One of my colonies destroyed a cell I gave it, 
and is queenless yet. 

A. Bees frequently eat or destroy eggs given them or left 
with them when queenless. I don't know why. They will also de- 
stroy queen-cells sometimes for no apparent reason. 

Q. How long can combs of eggs and unsealed brood remain 
off a hive without being damaged? 

A. I don't know. That's a good subject for you to experi- 
ment on. I know that brood nearly ready to seal will begin to 
crawl out of the cell within a few hours — perhaps two or three — 
after being taken from the hive. In Switzerland they make a 
practice of sending eggs by mail, so it is likely eggs will keep at 
least a day or more. A fresh-laid egg would perhaps keep better 
than one three days old. 

Entrance-Blocks. — Q. Are entrance-blocks used on the hive 
all year around? Or when would you advise me to put them on, 
and what opening? 

A. The entrance-blocks should be taken away entirely during 
hot weather, or while in the cellar. For outdoor wintering they 
should be used to make a small entrance. Then in spring enlarge 
them only as the entrance becomes crowded. 

Entrance-Guards. — Q. Is it dangerous to put entrance-guards 
at the entrance with ventilation at the top for preventing 
swarms? 

A. If the opening for ventilation is large enough for bees to 
pass through, entrance-guards will have no effect whatever. 
Neither will entrance-guards have any effect in preventing 
swarming; all they do is to catch the queen when the bees swarm. 
Of course, when the queen is caught in the guard the swarm will 
return ; but there will be trouble later. 

Q. Can a queen pass through an entrance-guard? 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 79 

A. Xot if the entrance-guard is perfect and the queen of nor- 
mal size. Some have thought that when a queen is not laying, 
her abdomen consequently smaller than usual, she might get 
through a perforation smaller than when in full laying. But it is 
not the size of the abdomen that prevents her passage, it is the 
thorax. The abdomen is soft and yielding, and when at the 
largest it will easily flatten out to go through any perforation 
large enough to allow the passage of the thorax. The thorax is 
a sort of bony structure, which is the same whether the queen is 
laying little or much. 

Entrances. — Q. I have contracted the entrances to all hives of 
colonies that need feeding or that are weak in bees. The strong 
colonies don't need any contracting, do they? 

A. It is not so important to lessen the entrance, as to avoid 
everything that may start robbing. This year my nuclei have the 
same entrance as the full colonies — 12 by 2 inches — and there has 
also been one case of robbing at a full colony with a normal lay- 
ing queen. Very likely some unwise thing had been done to start 
the robbing. 

Q. Do you contract the entrance in the spring during cool 
nights? If so, how much? Is it not a good plan to contract the 
entrance on account of robber-bees in spring? 

A. Yes, just as soon as my bees are taken out of the cellar 
the entrances are contracted to a hole three-quarters to one inch 
square. It helps against robbing and keeps the bees warmer, 
day and night. 

Q. Would you contract a wide entrance during a cool spell in 
summer? 

A. No. Takes too much work. But if I had only a few colo- 
nies, and worked them as a sort of pastime, I might change the 
entrance according to the weather. 

Q. Is there any advantage to have the entrance 1^ inches 
deep and full width of hive? 

A. Yes ; it gives chance for better ventilation in hot weather, 
and also in winter, if you winter in the cellar. But you cannot 
have \]/ 2 inches under bottom-bars in summer unless you have 
some provision to prevent the bees building down. 

Q. Should I diminish the entrance of the hive in winter? 
(California.) 

A. In your locality probably no contraction is needed. 

Q. Should the entrance be 1x5 inches, with a wire-cloth in it 
to prevent mice entering? 



80 dr. miller's 

A. Wire-cloth with three meshes to the inch is a good thing 
at the entrance for winter, but not when bees are flying daily. 

Q. If a colony is extra large, how large should the hive- 
entrance be? 

A. Full width of the hive. 

Q. What do you think of having the entrance the long way of 
the hive seven-eighths of an inch high during the honey flow? 
Did you ever try it? 

A. If you mean to have the entrance the long way of the hive, 
and that the only entrance, I shouldn't like it so well as to have 
the entrance the usual wa}^, because the latter allows freer en- 
trance of air. In Europe it is quite common to have the entrance 
as you describe. That's called the "warm arrangement," and the 
frames running at right angles to the entrance (the common way 
here) is called the "cold arrangement." I never tried the single 
entrance at the side, but have practiced largely having the en- 
trance on all four sides. I like it much, but now have only one 
opening two inches deep, as being, in the long run, more con- 
venient. 

Q. How about a separate entrance to supers? 

A. Some advise it, but generally it is not used. An opening 
above for ventilation, in very hot weather, however, may be a 
fine thing. 

Q. Does it make any difference if the hive-entrance faces the 
north during the winter, and would it be a good plan to build a 
sort of box around and close the entrance one-half its present 
width? (Ohio.) 

A. So far south as southern Ohio it probably makes little dif- 
ference how a hive faces. Yet a good many favor facing south, 
and having no protection on the front. In this way the bees 
more quickly get the effects of the sun on a warm day in winter. 

Equalizing Brood. — Q. Is it a good policy to equalize brood in 
the spring? 

A. Yes, if rightly done, and no brood taken from any colony 
unless it has more than four frames well filled with brood. 

Excluders. — Q. Do you use a queen-excluder on your hives to 
keep the queen from laying in the sections? If not, how do you 
prevent this? 

A. With full sheets of foundation in sections, and frames not 
too shallow in the brood-chamber, the queen so seldom makes 
trouble in the supers that 1 never use an excluder to keep her 
down. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 81 

Q. Are not queen-excluders a hindrance to bees, or will I have 
to get some excluders? If so, how many? 

A. While it is generally thought best to use excluders for 
extracted honey, some do not use them, such prominent men as C. 
P. Dadant and E. D. Townsend being of the number. The latter 
says that by giving additional supers always on top he has no 
need for excluders. If you find it is better to use them, you will 
need one for each colony. 

Q. Have you tried the new queen and drone-excluders, or 
honey-boards, made of wire? Have they any claim to be classed 
as an improvement on the perforated zinc, or is it only a scheme 
of the manufacturers? 

A. I do not use excluders under supers, so I don't use many 
excluders, although for some purposes they are indispensable. 
Having quite a stock of the old kind of excluders on hand, I have 
never tried the wire excluders. I don't suppose there is a great 
deal of difference, but one would suppose that the bees would like 
the smooth wires better than the sharp edge left by the punching 
of the metal for the perforations. 

The wire excluders also allow better ventilation. 

Q. Can virgin or unfertile queens pass through excluding 
zinc? 

A. A laying queen looks much larger than a virgin, but it is 
the abdomen that's larger, not the thorax. It's not the abdomen, 
but the thorax that prevents a queen going through the zinc, and 
I think the thorax of a laying queen is no larger than it was 
when she was a virgin; so she ought to go through no more easily 
one time than another. But a virgin queen probably makes a 
more vigorous effort to go through, so she might go through an 
aperture through which she would not force herself after she 
settled down as a laying queen. 

Extracted Honey. — Q. I am going to buy five dovetailed 10- 
frame hives this spring. I only want honey for the house. Which 
is better for me, the extracting hive or sections? I read in the 
bee-books the extracting hive is best for home use. Please tell 
me why. 

A. Extracting saves the bees much labor in building comb, so 
it. is generally estimated that you can get about one-half more ex- 
tracted honey than comb. So, in deciding the question for your- 
self, the question is whether you would rather have 100 pounds of 
comb honey or 150 pounds of extracted. 

Q. Is it advisable to extract honey as soon is it is gathered? 
Is there any danger of it getting sour? 



82 dr. miller's 

A. It may be extracted early if it is sealed; otherwise not till 
the crop is well over. It may sour, and the flavor may be poor. 

Q. Owing to the lack of supers I extracted some honey when 
about two-thirds capped. Will it do to sell it that way? 

A. If the honey is very thin, it is better not to sell it in that 
condition, but the mere fact that a third of it is still uncapped 
does not condemn it. If it is good, thick honey, it does not matter 
that it was partly unsealed. If thin, it may be brought to a better 
consistency by letting it stand uncovered where it will be heated 
to 100 or 125 degrees. 

Extracting-Combs. — Q. Can I get honey out of the extracting- 
frames without the extractor? Can I melt it over the stove some 
way without breaking the comb, and will the bees store honey in 
the comb again?- 

A. No; if you want to save the combs, it's the extractor or 
nothing. 

Q. Can good extracting-combs be built in Hoffman wired 
brood-frames from 2-inch starters of medium brood-foundation? 

Will they stand extracting as well as combs built from full 
sheets? 

A. Yes, fairly good. 

No; and for two reasons. Most of the comb will be built with- 
out any foundation, and the septum of natural comb is more 
tender and thinner than that in foundation. Also, the wires in 
this natural comb will not be all in the septum, as will the wires 
in full sheets of foundation. 

Q. Can new combs be used for extracting when built on full 
sheets of comb-foundation and wired? 

A. Yes; but while they are new and tender it is well to use 
caution in extracting, if they are very full. Turn not too rapidly, 
and extract perhaps half the honey on one side. Reverse the 
comb and extract all the other side. Then reverse again and fin- 
ish the first side. 

Q. Which would you recommend, the 8 or 10-frame, full or 
shallow super, for the production of extracted honey? 

A. Ten-frame hives, or larger, for brood-chamber, and I 
think I should prefer shallow extracting combs. 

Extractors. — Q. Will it pay me to get an extractor for twenty 
colonies ? 

A. Yes; or for three, especially if you expect to increase. 

Q. I am thinking of buying an extractor. What kind would 
you advise me to get? How about the Novice 4-frame non- 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 83 

reversible extractor? Is the Cowan rapid-reversible any better? 
Is the 4-frame too big, or not? Does the reversing help any? 

A. It is generally well to make sure that your extractor is too 
large rather than too small, taking into account the possibility of 
increasing the number of your colonies. So, if you don't object 
to the difference in price it may be well to get the 4-frame. The 
reversing is a decided advantage, although one kind does as good 
work as the other. 

Q. Would like to know the speed at which a honey extractor 
must run to do good work. I have some cogwheels speeded 
three turns of the smaller to one of the larger. Will that speed 
enough to extract honey? 

A. Three to one will give you plenty of speed. Indeed, there 
is no trouble about getting speed enough with no cogs at all. The 
first extractor I knew anything about had none; each revolution 
with the handle made a revolution with the baskets. 

Q. How long may an extractor remain without washing? 
That is, how long may the extractings be apart without injuring 
anything? 

A. I think in some cases harm might be done by leaving an 
extractor daubed for 24 hours. I know that in some cases a 
week or more will do no harm. Perhaps the kind of honey or the 
condition of the atmosphere makes a difference. 

Tin does not readily blacken the honey, but all iron parts do. 
Better wash the extractor often. 

Eyes of Bees. — Q. How many eyes has a honeybee? 

A. They don't all have the same number. For the sake of 
making the count easier, we may say the worker has three simple 
and two compound eyes, each of the compound eyes being made 
up of a number of facets; but really each facet is a separate eye. 
Cowan says : "There is great variation in the number of facets in 
the compound eyes of bees. In the worker the lowest is given as 
3,500, whereas we have ourselves found as many as 5,000." Drones 
have more than either queen or worker. Cheshire counted on 
each side of the head — in a worker, 6,300; in a queen, 4,920; in a 
drone, 13,090. 

Fanning of Bees. — Q. In warm weather, when the bees are 
fanning, do they do that to get the water out of the honey, or to 
cool the hives? 

A. Both; but perhaps more than either to get fresh air into 
the hive. Bees seem to have a notion that pure air is a fine thing, 
summer or winter. 



84 dr. miller's 

Q. When the bees are vigorously fanning with their heads to 
the entrance, which is accomplished, cool air driven in, or hot air 
being drawn out? 

A. When I have put the back of my hand near the entrance it 
has always felt as if the current were toward my hand, and so 
drawn out of the hive. 

Feeders. — Q. What is the best feeder to use for any amount of 
feed? 

A. If a considerable amount of feed is to be given, nothing is 

better than the Miller feeder. The Doolittle is excellent for 

smaller amounts and handy for the bees. For an entrance-feeder 

the Boardman is good. 

Q. If I have a correct idea of the Alexander feeder, it is used 
under the bottom-board of the hive. How would the bees get ac- 
cess to the feed? 

A. The feeder is, so to speak, part of the bottom-board, at the 
back end of the hive, on the plan of the simplicity feeder, so the 
bees come directly down from the frames into the feeder. 

Q. What do you think of the Boardman feeder? 
A. Good; but when heavy feeding is to be done you would ex- 
pect me to prefer the Miller. 

Q. Would you recommend the division-board feeders for be- 
ginners? 

A. They are excellent where you do not care to feed a larger 
amount than they contain. 

Q. I wish to feed some colonies I have bought which are 
light in stores. In using the Doolittle feeder where, in the hive 
shall I put it — as an outside frame, or in the center of the hive? 

A. Don't think of dividing the brood-nest, but put it next to 
the first frame that contains brood at one side. 

Feeding Back.— Q. Do you endorse the suggestion of Alexan- 
der as to running part of one's colonies for extracted honey and 
feeding back into the comb-honey hives to provide continuous 
supplies there for night work, and at times when weather pre- 
vents field work? 

A. I never made a success of feeding back to have the honey 
filled in sections. 

Feeding and Feeds. — Q. I had one colony and lost it by feed- 
ing them only sugar water. Other bees robbed them and they 
starved. What is the best feed, and how and when shall I feed 
them? 

A. The best thing is to give them combs of seale4 honey, but 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 85 

it isn't likely you have them. The next best is a syrup of granu- 
lated sugar, probably just what you did feed them, only there 
was probably something wrong about the way you fed that 
started robbing. Of course, I cannot tell what it was that was 
wrong; possibly you may have spilled some of the feed, or done 
something else that was a bit careless. Be careful not to leave 
any cracks open that will let bees in from the outside. If there 
is danger of robbing, it is well to give feed in the evening after 
bees have stopped flying, and to give no more at a time than they 
will clean up by morning. For fall feeding nothing is better than 
a Miller feeder. If you feed early, equal parts of sugar and water 
will be all right; but if you do not feed until after the middle of 
October, then you can have 5 parts of sugar (either by weight or 
measure), 2 parts water. 

Evidently you have no bee-book of instructions, and it will be 
big money in your pocket if }^ou get a good one, say such a one 
as Dadant's Langstroth. 

Q. When is the best time to feed the bees? 

A. The best thing is never to feed them, but let them gather 
their own stores. But if the season is a failure, as it is some 
years in most places, then you must feed. The best time for that 
is just as soon as you know they will need feeding for winter; 
say in August or September. October does very well, however, 
and even if you haven't fed until December, better feed then than 
to let the bees starve. 

Q. Two years ago I bought two colonies of bees, and the first 
year they increased to five colonies. I lost one colony the spring 
of 1905, and last fall I had six put away in good condition with 
plenty of honey for winter. I just now lost one colony. I exam- 
ined the hive and found the honey somewhat watery, running a 
little out of the hive. What is the cause of this? Can I feed the 
honey if other bees clean out the comb? 

A. If you had examined closely you might have found that it 
was mostly water that was running out of the hive. Water may 
be found running out of a hive containing a colony in good con- 
dition, the vapor from the bees settling on the cold walls of the 
hive as water, and running out of the entrance. It may also settle 
on the unsealed honey in the combs, making the honey thin, 
sometimes so thin as to run out. There is nothing unusual in all 
this, and you need not fear to feed this honey to the bees when 
the weather gets warm. 

This thin honey will not do for winter feed. 



86 dr. miller's 

Q. When you wish the bees to replenish the brood-chamber, 
how do you feed, and where do you place the food? 

A. If feed is needed in the brood-chamber, you may count on 
the bees putting it there in preference to any other place, no 
matter how you feed nor where you place the food. I use Miller 
feeders, placing the food on top. The crock-and-plate plan is 
also good. 

Q. Can I safely save scorched candy until next summer and 
feed it without danger to the bees — let them store it? 

A. Save your scorched feed till next spring, not for the bees 
to store, but for them to use up in rearing brood. 

Q. If in your judgment it would pay to feed bees right along 
through the season all the sugar at 5 cents per pound that they 
will use to have them make honey to sell at 15 cents per pound, 
will they neglect the fields to feed on the syrup? 

A. It would be very unadvisable, unless you want to get Uncle 
Samuel after you. To feed sugar so as to sell the resulting 
product as honey would be rank adulteration, for the product 
would not be legal honey. Indeed, one should strive to avoid as 
much as possible feeding sugar syrup for the use of bees, lest 
some of it should get into the surplus. Besides, it would not pay, 
as so much of it is used in comb-building. 

Feeding Frames of Honey. — Q. I have a lot of frames full of 
honey nicely capped and in a cool room where the temperature 
goes down to zero. I presume this honey is granulated. I intend 
to take those frames in the spring and divide them among my 
colonies as feed. Is this frozen honey good? Can the bees thaw 
that out, or will they carry the sugar out instead of using it for 
brood-rearing? 

A. The honey is entirely wholesome, but very likely the bees 
will waste a good deal of it by carrying out the undissolved gran- 
ules. You can do something to prevent that if you will go to the 
trouble of spraying the combs with warm water by means of an 
atomizer, first uncapping any cells of honey that may be sealed. 
When the combs are cleaned off dry by the bees they may be 
sprayed again. Don't begin this until the bees are flying freely. 

Feeding Bees in Box-Hives. — Q. Would it do to take some of 
the box-hive colonies that are in danger of starving into a warm 
room this winter and transfer them to good frame hives, 
using only the good combs, and contract to the size bees will 
occupy, placing candy between the frames or on top? Or would 
it cause the bees to be over-excited, filling themselves, and when 
again confined in the cellar without a cleansing flight, to become 
filthv and sick? 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 87 

A. Don't transfer in winter. Those box-hives most likely have 
no bottoms; if they have bottoms pry them off. Turn the hives 
upside down, put candy between or on top of the combs, and leave 
them upside down as long as in the cellar. When I had box-hives 
I wintered them upside down in the cellar. 

Feeding in Cellar. — Q. What time can bees be fed that are 
wintered in the cellar? 

A. Any time rather than have them die ; but the feeding 
should all be done before putting in cellar. 

Q. Is there any possible way of feeding bees in a cellar? I 
think some of my colonies are too short of stores for winter. 

My cellar is rather warm this year on account of a new fur- 
nace. I have a separate apartment for the bees with plenty of 
fresh air, but it is still too warm at this date ; the temperature 
keeps up to 55 and 65 degrees. The bees are very quiet yet. 

I thought of giving each colony syrup separately in a sort of 
little tray so arranged that the bees could not drown. Would the 
bees come to get this syrup, or could it be given in some other 
way? How and when could it be done so that half of the bees 
would not rush out of the hives? My hives are put in two rows, 
one on top of the other, and all of the covers are off. 

A. With a big lot of fresh air for the bees you will likely 
find that they will winter well at 55 or 60 degrees, although they 
will consume more stores than at a lower temperature. Still, as 
you say, the increasing cold will bring down the temperature. 
Better not let it get below 45 degrees. 

If I understand correctly, your hives are raised in front by 
1-inch blocks, and that makes a space of at least an inch and a 
half. That allows you to put a shallow dish of feed under the 
frames, and if your colonies are reasonably strong they ought 
readily to come down to the feed at 55 or 60 degrees. If it is 
much colder than that and the colonies are rather weak, they will 
not be likely to come to feed. Instead of the proposed wire screen 
over the syrup you may do better to cover the syrup with cork 
chips. You will get these from your grocer. He gets them as 
packing for grapes in cold weather, and generally throws them 
away. 

If feeding below does not prove a success, you can feed above. 
Edwin Bevins reports excellent success with lump sugar. Wet the 
lumps by sprinkling water upon them, but do not make them wet 
enough to dissolve the sugar. Then lay the lumps directly on the 
top-bars over the cluster of bees. 

Feeding for Stimulation. — Q. I want information in regard to 



88 dr. miller's 

feeding bees in the spring, so as to stimulate brood-rearing. How 
shall I proceed, especially when to commence, and what precau- 
tion to use? 

A. Without a good deal of experience, you may do more 
harm than good. Don't begin till bees fly freely; feed about half 
a pound diluted honey or a syrup of sugar and water, half and 
half. — the honey is better. Feed in the evening, for fear of rob- 
bing. Every other evening will do. It will do no good to feed 
when the bees can get even a moderate amount among the flow- 
ers. Bees are apt to fly out and be chilled and lost by too early 
stimulative feeding. 

Q. I have three colonies of bees that I am afraid are short 
of stores, but if they should live until spring, and it gets warm 
enough so they can fly occasionally, would it be all right to feed 
them sugar syrup in feeders on top of the frames, a small amount 
each day, until the flowers bloom? Would it be likely to start 
robbing? 

A. Instead of feeding a little every day, better give them a 
good feast, giving it to them as warm as possible, so as to get 
them to take enough to tide them over a considerable space of 
time. If you give them a little every day when they can fly only 
occasionally it keeps them stirred up and makes them fly out at 
times when they may be chilled and never get back to the hive. 
If the feed is given so that no robber can get to it except through 
the entrance of the hive, there ought not to be much danger of 
robbing, especially if the feed be given well on in the day. 

Feeding in Fall. — Q. When is the proper time to start feeding 
for winter? 

A. August, if they can gather nothing later. In general, just 
as soon as possible after it is known that feeding will be neces- 
sary. Generally it ought not to be necessary. 

Q. When shall I give the bees their large feed for winter? 

How many pounds of sugar should I give a colony that has 
very little stores at the present time? (Indiana.) 

A. The sooner the better. September is none too early, but 
in your locality there will be warm days much later. 

Twenty-five pounds of sugar is none too much for a colony 
that has no stores. From that you must deduct for any stores 
they have on hand. Remember, however, that's the weight of the 
sugar, not sugar syrup, and the water in the syrup will, of course, 
be additional weight. 

Q. The honey flow seems to be over here, and I have three 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 89 

weak colonies with very little comb, but nice, good queens. How 
would you feed them so other bees would not get to the feed? 

A. Use a Miller feeder in the evening after flight is over, and 
there will be no trouble. Other feeders can be used. If you happen 
to have none, you can use a crock-and-plate feeder. Take a gal- 
lon crock, or some other size, put sugar in it, and an equal 
measure or weight of water; lay over it a piece of heavy woolen 
cloth or four or five thicknesses of cheese-cloth, and on this lay a 
plate upside down. With one hand under the bottom and the 
other on top, quickly turn the whole thing upside down, and your 
feeder is ready. Take the cover off your hive, set over it an 
empty hive-body, set your feeder in it, and cover up, being sure 
that all is bee-tight. 

Q. How will this new plan of feeding work? Place tin con- 
tainers about the size of a half-pound baking p'owder can cover, 
containing bee candy, above the brood-frames, inside a 1-inch 
wooden frame to fit on the top of the hive under the cover. 
These tin containers set side by side just above the brood- 
frames, would be in the warmest part of the hive, and their 
candy contents would be easily accessible to the bees through the 
holes between these circular tin containers. This plan of feeding 
is easily adjustable, as a sufficient number of feed-containers can 
be used for either large or small swarms with no danger of feed 
running out to kill the bees. Tin can manufacturers can supply 
these at small cost. 

A. This plan would work all right, I should think. In weather 
a bit cold the bees would not reach the candy quite so readily as 
if laid directly on the top-bars. Some apiarists pour candy in 
paper plates for feeding. 

Feeding in the Open. — Q. I have some waste honey and I am 
feeding the bees the honey outdoors on some wide boards. Is 
that as good as feeding in feeders? 

A. Fully as good or better, if your neighbor's bees do not get 
too much of it, and if you are absolutely sure the honey contains 
no germs of foulbrood. 

Q. We are in the midst of a protracted drouth, hardly a 
flower to be seen. I have filled my bee-feeders with syrup made 
from granulated sugar and placed the feed in the yard where all 
the bees can help themselves. Is this method of feeding all right, 
or should the food be placed in the hive? 

A. Feeding out in the open is a little more like having the 
bees gather from the fields; only if other bees are near you they 
will also partake of the plunder. The stronger colonies will get 



90 dr. miller's 

the lion's share, but you can make that all right by taking filled 
frames from the strong and giving to the weak. 

Feeding in Winter. — Q. What shall I feed this winter? Can 
syrup be fed, or should I feed sugar candy? 

A. I would rather feed syrup in winter than to let bees starve, 
but it is probably about twice as safe to feed candy as to feed 
syrup. 

Q. I have a colony of fine Italian bees which have not stores 
enough to last them a month. I had to take it away last summer 
and have not as yet got it home. How can I feed it at this late 
day? It is in a chaff hive with extra super rilled with cushions. 

A. The best way is to give combs of sealed honey. Carefully 
take out the empty frames and put the combs of sealed honey 
close up to the bees, for if there is a space between the bees and 
the honey, and it should be quite cold for a time, the bees might 
starve without ever touching the honey. What's that you say? 
"Haven't any combs of sealed honey?" Well, that's about what 
I expected. But make up your mind that you'll always have them 
hereafter. 

Well, if you haven't combs of sealed honey, maybe you have 
some honey in sections. You can fit some sections in a wide 
frame, or even a common brood-frame, by cutting away enough 
of the sections to make them fit in the frame. Rather an expen- 
sive way to feed; still, I've fed a good many sections in my time. 

If you haven't the sections, either, you can do quite well with 
candy. Take best granulated sugar and stir it into a very little 
hot water in a dish on the stove; but whatever you do, don't let 
it burn, for burnt syrup is death to bees in winter. Better not 
set it down in the stove-hole so the fire can touch the dish, but 
set the dish on top of the stove. Keep trying it, and when you 
find a little stirred in a saucer will grain, take it off quickly and 
pour into dishes making cakes three-quarters of an inch to one 
and a quarter inches thick. Put over the frames a cake of this 
candy that will pretty well cover the frames ; or, if cakes are 
small, you can use more than one. Cover this with some kind of 
cloth covering, and shut up snug. Toward spring you may need 
to repeat the dose, but if you make the cakes thick enough and 
large enough no more will be needed for a good while. Your 
extra super on top will give you a chance to put on the candy 
and pack it up warm. 

Fences. — Q. Do you use slats or fences between sections? 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 91 

A. I have used both, but now use plain wood separators one- 
sixteenth of an inch thick. 

Flour for Pollen. — Q. Why is rye-flour put into the hives in 
March? 

Where can I put rye-flour in the beehives? 

A. Rye-flour and other meals are given to the bees as a sub- 
stitute for pollen. 

If you want to put it in the hive, you can sprinkle it into the 
cells of a comb. But it is not generally put in the hive, but out- 
side. Put it in a shallow dish or box outside in the sun, and if 
the bees are in need of it they will take it from there. But if they 
can get plenty of natural pollen they are not likely to touch the 
substitute. Use old combs for bait. 

Foulbrood Versus Chilled Brood. — Q. How can a person tell 
the difference between foulbrood and chilled brood? I can find 
nothing regarding chilled brood in the text-books. 

A. Chilled brood doesn't string out like foulbrood. 

(Foulbrood is irregular, not all the brood dying at one time. 
Chilled brood is all dead.— C. P. D.) 

Foulbrood. — Q. I am requeening my entire apiary with Car- 
niolan queens, as I have come to the conclusion that the most 
prolific bees arc the most resistant to foulbrood. How about it? 

A. There is a very general belief that the introduction of 
pure Italian blood is an important step toward the eradication of 
European foulbrood and some think the same of Carnfolans. It 
may be that there is something about Italians or some other 
blood through which it comes to pass that if two colonies side by 
side are of equal energy, one of them being of pure Italian 
blood and the other mostly black, the one of pure Italian blood 
will be the more nearly immune to foulbrood. But I doubt it. I 
think that Italians will fight foulbrood better than blacks, not 
because they are Italians, but because they are more energetic 
than the others. So the most energetic bees, no matter what the 
kind, will be the ones that will do the most toward keeping down 
foulbrood. I do not remember seeing prolificness claimed as a 
thing to help against foulbrood. Yet prolificness helps toward it 
in one respect, in that it helps to keep strong colonies, and it is 
very important with European foulbrood that colonies be strong. 

Q. Is foulbrood ever found where there is no manipulation of 
bees? 

A. Yes, indeed. Manipulation cannot produce the disease, 
and the right kind of manipulation does not necessarily favor its 



92 dr. miller's 

increase; but the wrong kind does; as when a comb is taken from 
a diseased colony and given to a healthy one. I don't mean that 
giving a frame of brood from one colony to another is wrong ma- 
nipulation in all cases, but it is wrong where the brood is taken 
from a diseased colony. 

Q. Is it safe to use section-boxes over again with drawn- 
comb and without comb, that have been on colonies that had 
foulbrood? 

A. I should not be afraid to use them in case of European 
foulbrood, but with American foulbrood there might be danger. 

Q. How can I tell foulbrood? 

A. The chief symptom in American foulbrood is the ropy 
character of the dead larva; stick a toothpick into it, and when 
you draw it out it will string an inch or two. If European 
foulbrood, look for larvae that instead of being nearly white 
are quite yellowish. .If you write to Dr. E. F. Phillips, Department 
of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, he will send you, gratis, valua- 
ble printed matter about foulbrood, and also a box so that you 
may send sample of diseased brood for expert diagnosis. 

Q. You have written several plans for curing foulbrood. Now, 
if half of your colonies were diseased next spring, what treat- 
ment would you choose? 

A. If they had American foulbrood, I would use the McEvoy 
plan. If it was European, I would wait till perhaps the beginning 
of clover harvest, and first see that each colony to be treated 
was made strong by uniting or by giving frames of brood well ad- 
vanced. Then I would remove the queen and give to the colony 
a ripe queen-cell or a virgin queen of best stock. 

Q. Is there anything that could be fed to the bees to prevent 
foulbrood? 

A. In this country drugs are generally considered of no ac- 
count in foulbrood. In England it is a common thing to add 
naphthol beta to the bees' food, with the idea that it helps to 
prevent foulbrood. 

Foulbrood, American. — Q. What are the chief causes of 
American foulbrood? I have never heard of a case in this sec- 
tion. 

A. The chief and the only cause is the presence of a microbe, 
bacillus larvae, and the disease is generally conveyed to a healthy 
colony by means of honey from a diseased colony. A drop of in- 
fected honey no larger than a pin-head is enough to start the 
destruction of an entire apiary. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 



93 



Q. What is the color of American foulbrood? 
A. The dead larvae are coffee-colored. 



2&S&ftSfiS!t*Sft< 




Fig. 17. American foulbrood in an advanced stage. Notice the pierced cappings 
and the dead larvae in the bottoms of the cells. 



Q. Does foulbrood disappear during a heavy honey-flow to 
show up again the following spring in the same colonies? 



94 dr. miller's 

A. Yes, it may disappear, to all appearance, although the 
seeds of disease are there all the while. 

Q. Can foulbrood be cured without destroying all the bees? 
If so, how? 

A. No need to destroy the bees; the disease is only in the 
brood. The McEvoy plan is generally used in curing. In the 
honey season, when the bees are gathering freely, remove the 
combs in the evening and shake the bees into their own hive; give 
them frames with comb-foundation starters and let them 
build comb for four days. The bees will make the starters into 
comb during the four days and store the diseased honey in them 
which they took with them from the old comb. Then in the eve- 
ning of the fourth day take out the new combs and give them 
comb foundation to work out, and the cure will be complete. 

Q. How early in spring can bees be treated if they have foul- 
brood? 

A. Usually no treatment is undertaken until bees are busy 
gathering. 

Q. How many days shall I wait after treating a colony by 
shaking before I can give honey or brood, if they really need it 
to keep from starving or dwindling on account of no young bees? 

A. Perhaps five days. There ought really to ue no need of 
feeding, for the attempt at cure should be undertaken only at a 
time when honey is coming in. 

Q. How long is a colony immune to the disease after starting 
all over with fresh foundation? 

A. Just as long as you are immune to the itch after being 
cured of that troublesome malady. In other words, if the cure 
of foulbrood is complete today, and tomorrow the cured bees have 
access to some foulbroody honey, you may count on their being 
diseased again. 

Q. If a colony that has a few cells of American foulbrood 
swarms and that swarm is put into a hive containing frames with 
full sheets of foundation will it be in danger of having American 
foulbrood later on? Or is it necessary to use something like the 
McEvoy treatment? 

A. Yes, it is in danger; but that later on" must not be carried 
too far. If the disease does not appear in the first batch of brood, 
you need not expect it "later on." But if there are, as you say, 
only a few diseased cells in the parent colony, the probability is 
that the swarm will be healthy. 

Q. Ought I to use brood-frames which contain perfect combs, 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 95 

i. e., those showing no signs of foulbrood, if purchased in a lot 
of hives, part of which I suspected were infected? 

A. There is danger. Don't use them unless you keep a close 
watch. 

Q. Are combs that have contained American foulbrood, and 
later filled with honey by a diseased colony, then extracted, safe 
to use again on healthy colonies over queen-excluders? 

A. No. Never use again combs which have been in a colony 
which had American foulbrood. 

Q. Are extracting-supers that have been used on hives in- 
fected with American foulbrood, after being extracted, safe to use 
on healthy colonies? 

A. Some say yes, some say no. I suspect that the truth is 
that sometimes the disease is thereby conveyed, and sometimes 
not. It will be the safe thing to avoid using them. 

Q. What is the best method to treat brood-combs so as to be 
doubly sure that there will be no chances of foulbrood getting 
into the apiary from those bought brood-combs? I have a chance 
to buy old combs. 

A. I don't know of any way. At one time it was claimed 
that formaldehyde would disinfect them, but I think that is given 
up. Your only safe way is to buy them where you know there has 
been no disease. 

Q. Please tell us when we shake on foundation for foulbrood 
whether the frames should be new, or can we cut the old comb 
out clean and use the frames again? I don't want to buy frames 
for 50 hives if it is unnecessary. 

A. Generally it is considered best to burn up the old frames, 
but when one has so large a number as you have I think it pays 
to clean them up and use again. At any rate, that is what I did 
with quite a number. After cutting out the combs, I put the 
frames into a big iron kettle holding half a barrel of water into 
which was put two pounds of concentrated lye. The water, of 
course, was heated, and the frames were kept in the kettle until 
all wax and glue was melted off. Then the frames were rinsed in 
cold water to get off the lye. 

Q. Is honey from a foulbroody colony fit for table use? I 
never heard of any foulbrood in this neighborhood and there are 
lots of bees here. 

A. If nice and clean in appearance it is all right. Foulbroody 
honey that is death to bees' larvae is entirely wholesome for 
human beings. 

Q. After shaking one or more colonies of bees that had 



96 dr. miller's 

American foulbrood should the smoker and all tools used be dis- 
infected? If so, how? I put the smoker, gloves, veil, etc., in a 
jar and poured on them lots of gasoline, then I covered all with 
many sacks, weighted them down, and left them this way for one 
week. Do you think this will be sufficient? The gasoline was 
still strong and would burn vigorously after one week. 

A. I don't believe gasoline kills the spores, and so I doubt its 
being an effective disinfectant. A solution of carbolic acid is used 
by some. Even carbolic acid does not destroy the spores, and I 
am a little bit doubtful of the need of anything more than soap 
and water, only so that any remains of the disease may be re- 
moved. 

Q. I have 40 colonies of bees with American foulbrood. I 
would like to treat them in the spring. Would it be safe to give 
them the foulbrood honey after melting the combs, or would I 
have to boil it? 

A. You must boil it. If you boil it without any water, the 
outer part will burn while the center is not heated enough to 
make it safe. So add water, perhaps half as much water as honey, 
slowly heating at first until all is thoroughly melted, and then 
bring it to a boil and keep it there for at least fifteen minutes. 

Q. Is the wax worth rendering out of the combs of a foul- 
broody colony, or would it still contain the microbes? 
A. The wax is considered all right. 

Q. More than once in convention reports, I have read where 
it was directly stated or intimated that bees do not have foul- 
brood in trees, buildings, etc., and now A. W. Smyth, in an ex- 
tract from Irish Bee Journal, says: "No one has found foulbrood 
in bees * * * in any home not purposely made for them." I 
should like to know on what this common belief is founded. If 
this is the rule, I know of at least one exception, as I took a 
colony of bees from a house, which colony had European foul- 
brood and I cannot see any reason why such a home for bees 
should be exempt from the disease. 

A. I do not think that the opinion prevails on this side of the 
water that bees never have foulbrood "in any home not purposely 
made for them." Indeed it has been urged that one reason why 
it was so difficult to get rid of foulbrood was because of diseased 
wild colonies. Why should not a wild colony be exposed to pre- 
cisely the same dangers as one in a Langstroth hive? Your one 
case is enough to prove that bees may have foulbrood in a home 
not specially prepared for them. 

Foulbrood, European. — Q. What is the color of European 
foulbrood? 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 97 

A. The unsealed larva, instead of being pearly white, as in a 
state of health, is of a distinctly yellow tinge, becoming darker 
as it dries, until very dark brown or black. 

Q. Tell us how to destroy European foulbrood without de- 
stroying a lot of nice, straight combs. 

A. When I discovered European foulbrood in my apiary, I 
melted up hundreds of beautiful worker-combs. If I had it to 
do over again I would try to save them. I have been blamed for 
encouraging anything of the kind, because in the hands of care- 
less beekeepers there is danger that the disease may be spread 
through the combs that are saved. But you'll promise to be very 
careful, won't you, if I tell you how I would do — how I have done? 
The first thing is to have the colony strong. Foulbrood is not 
a great strengthener of colonies, and if it has proceeded to any 
great extent you will need to strengthen the colony by giving 
brood or young bees, or both, from healthy colonies, or by uniting 
diseased colonies. But, remember, the colony must be strong. 
The Alexander treatment requires the removal of the queen, and 
then 20 days later the giving of a ripe queen-cell or a virgin just 
hatched of best Italian stock. The bees do the rest. I think I 
have had just as good success without leaving the colony so long 
without a laying queen. So instead of waiting 20 days, give the 
colony a cell or a virgin queen just as soon as it will accept it 
after the removal of the queen. 

Sometimes you may find only a single bad cell, or perhaps 8 
or 10. In that case it may not be necessary to do anything. A 
week or two later you may find that the bees have cleaned out 
all bad brood and left nothing but healthy brood in the hive. 
But you may find the case worse than it was, although not yet a 
very bad case. If the queen is vigorous, and the colony appears 
prosperous, cage the queen and leave her in the hive. After a 
certain period let the queen out of the cage, and if your bees do 
as mine have done the disease will have disappeared in most 
cases. I say after a certain period. I think a week is long 
enough, but perhaps ten days is better. You notice that I also 
say, "in most cases." Because in more cases than I like the 
disease has reappeared. But so it did in some cases when I 
brushed the bees upon foundation and melted the combs. 

Q. Colonies have one, two or three cells of European foul- 
brood, say first of June. If I kill the queen the last half of 
clover flow and let these bees rear their own queen, will this cure 



98 dr. miller's 

European foulbrood? If so, state time to do it. Clover flow from 
June 20 to July 20. 

A. A cure would be likely to follow. Better not wait until 

the last half of the flow, as the case would be getting worse all 

the time, but act at the beginning of the flow. But if only two 

or three diseased cells are present, and the queen is good, all you 

need to do is to cage her in the hive for ten days. 

Q. If caging a queen for a certain length of time, in case of 
European foulbrood, stops the disease, should the disease not 
come to an end in fall, as all brood-rearing stops entirely for 
several months? 

If an apiary has foulbrood one season, will it be free from it 
next year? There are no young diseased larvae from which the 
nurse bees can suck the juice and feed it to healthy ones the 
next spring. 

A. The shortest answer to your question would be to say I 
don't know. And that's the truth. I don't know why caging a 
queen should stop the disease. If caging a queen stops the dis- 
ease, I don't know why the winter's rest from brood-rearing does 
not stop it. But here is the important fact that I do know. I 
know that in a large number of cases cessation of brood-rearing 
for a week or so has stopped the disease. Note that I don't say 
in all cases, but in the large majority of cases. I don't know that 
in the great majority of cases the disease is conveyed from one 
cell to another by the nurse-bees sucking the juices of recently- 
diseased larvae, but it is a pretty satisfactory theory until a bet- 
ter theory is advanced. 

I think, however, that no one has advanced- the theory that 
the disease is in all cases conveyed by means of larvae that have 
been dead only a short time. It may in some cases be conveyed 
through spores in dried-up scales of larvae that have been dead a 
long time. But I suppose these last cases are exceptional. Now, 
although I don't know all about it, if you will allow me to 
theorize, I'll tell you what I think is possible in the case you 
mention. In early spring or winter, when the brood-rearing be- 
gins, there are no diseased larvae present. But there are dried 
scales containing spores. One would expect that the disease 
would begin rather slowly from these. And observation con- 
firms that supposition. In a colony which has not been badly 
diseased in the previous year, the first examination in the follow- 
ing spring shows very little disease — possibly none. Subsequent 
examinations will show it on the increase, although if I am not 
mistaken there are some cases in which a colony will remain 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 99 

healthy which has been slightly diseased the previous year. If a 
colony has been very badly diseased this year, next year you may 
look for it at the very start with plenty of diseased larvae, proba- 
bly because of the millions of spores that are present. 

Q. In treating colonies with European foulbrood by dequeen- 
ing or caging the queen all agree the first thing to do is to make 
the colony strong. I find that ideas differ on this matter of strong 
colonies. What is the minimum strength with which you could 
expect success? 

A. You have struck a new question, yet now that it is asked 
the wonder is that it was never asked before. Without being 
dogmatic about it, I should say that the colony should be strong 
enough to have six Langstroth frames well filled with brood — to 
be more specific about it, each frame being three-fourths filled. 
I think it also important that there be a good force of young 
bees, and without this it would not be likely that six frames 
would be well filled with brood. Old bees that have begun work 
Afield are not the ones that do house-cleaning, and it may well 
be questioned whether doubling up such bees to any extent 
would answer the purpose. 

Q. Are the germs of European foulbrood transmitted by 
hone}-, or, in other words, would a frame of sealed or unsealed 
honey (with no brood) from an infected colony infect a healthy 
one? 

A. I think it would in some cases. I know that in some cases 
it does not. I would have little fear of surplus honey from an 
infected colony. I would not feel quite so safe about a brood- 
comb, even if it contained no brood. With American foulbrood 
the case is different. However, in either case, I should prefer 
both honey and combs that had never been within a mile of a 
foulbroody hive. 

Q. Would combs that have never contained brood be affected 
in any way, even if they had been drawn out by colonies affected 
with European foulbrood? Would it be safe to use any of those 
combs? Xow I have 200 self-spacing frames all drawn-out combs. 
They have been exposed to the diseased colonies, but not used 
for brood-rearing. The diseased colonies had stored honey in 
them, and I extracted it. Would it be all right to use them, or 
would it be better to make wax out of them? Everybody's bees 
are affected around here, as one of the beekeepers left his hives 
out to be cleaned up where bees had died. 

A. I have used such combs without bad results. Whether it 
would always work so well I cannot say. If I had never had the 



100 DR. MILLER'S 

disease I should not want to use them. But in your case, with 
the disease all around you, and having already been in your apiary 
I should not hesitate to use them. The likelihood is that it will 
be some time before you are entirely rid of European foulbrood, 
but it will gradually become less troublesome, and will not hin- 
der you from getting crops of honey. 

Q. You state you will never melt up any more combs on ac- 
count of European foulbrood. What would you do with combs 
partly filled with honey, or empty, that were left by a colony that 
had died with the disease? 

A. Candidly, I must confess I don't know. As you state the 
case, I can imagine a colony so thoroughly rotten with the disease 
that it dies outright, leaving combs containing some honey, but 
most of the cells filled with diseased and dead brood. If I had 
such a case I should feel a good deal like burning up the whole 
thing. I'm pretty certain I should if it were the only diseased 
colony in the apiary. If the disease were spread throughout the 
apiary, I think I would let such bad combs dry until the dead 
larvae were dry. Then, if there was honey in some of the combs 
that I thought fit for table use, I might extract it. Whether the 
combs were extracted or not, I might give them in an upper story 
to some colony having the disease but not wholly affected. In 
fact, this latter is just what I did, piling the diseased combs four 
or five stories high — only the combs were not so badly diseased as 
in the supposed case. 

Even while saying that, with a single case in the apiary so 
bad as imagined, I should burn up the whole thing, I will stand 
by my assertion that I will never melt up any combs on account 
of European foulbrood, because I am very sure I'll never allow a 
case to get so bad as supposed. 

Foundation (See Comb-Foundation.) 

Frames. — Q. Is there any difference in the size of the Hoffman 
and Langstroth frames? If so, what are the outside dimensions 
of each? 

A. Both the same size— 17^x9*4 

Q. Are the self-spacing Hoffman brood-frames the best? 

A. If the bee-glue is not troublesome where you are, you will 
find them excellent. If glue is plenty, they are bad. 

Q. Do the metal-spaced frames give ample room for bees to 
pass between frames? 

A. Yes, they take up almost no room. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 101 

Q. Which frame do you think is the better, the Hoffman or 
loose-top, staple-spaced frame, and which is the easier to 
handle? What frame do you use, also what size section or ex- 
tracting-frame? 

SJ9ij;o pu"B 'uvwjjon sq; a^ij 9tuos 'J^iJip s9DU3.i9p.ij *y 
would not have it around, because the bees glue the frames to- 
gether, making them harder to handle than the other kinds of 
frames. With the metal spacers latterly used on the Hoffman, 
it is not so objectionable. 

I use the Miller frame, which is a plain Langstroth frame with 
common galvanized shingle nails for side-spacers and small sta- 
ples for end-spacers. I use the same for an extracting-frame, 
although if I were going extensively into extracting I would 
likely have a shallower frame. I use the section most generally 
in use, 2-bee-way., 4j4x4j4xl%. 

Q. Using plain frames, how do you manage to keep them 
from swinging and killing the bees when hauling over rough 
roads? 

A. In the same sense you seem to mean, I don't use plain 
frames. Nothing can be plainer than the Miller frame, except 
that there are common nails, as I have often explained, used as 
side-spacers, and staples as end-spacers. Nothing is needed at 
any time to prepare the bees for hauling, except to close the en- 
trance with wire-cloth. 

Q. Would there be trouble with frames made short enough 
so that there would be a half-inch beespace between the end- 
bars and the inside of the hive? I have trouble with the standard 
frame on account of smashing bees. Would the bees fill the 
space between the end-bars and hive-ends with comb? I use the 
staple-spaced frame. 

A. You would be badly troubled with combs built in such a 
large space ; at least in some cases. Possibly you might like W. 
L. Coggshall's plan. Drive staples into end-bars at the lower end, 
so the end-bars cannot crowd against the end-wall of the hive. 

Q. In an answer to "Virginia," you tell him to use the wedges 
that come with the frames. I make my frames. Please explain 
how to make or get them, and how to use them. 

A. A saw-kerf is made in the under side of the top-bar, into 
which the edge of the foundation goes. Then close beside this is 
another saw-kerf made by a finer saw, and into this narrower 
kerf the wedge is crowded. The wedge is a thin strip of wood 
as long as the under side of the top-bar, one side being cham- 
fered down to an edge, so as to enter the kerf. If you make your 



102 



DR. MILLERS 



own frames it will perhaps be easier for you to have no saw-kerf 
in the top-bar, but merely let the foundation come up to the top- 
bar on the under side, and cement it there with melted wax. 

Q. How close can frames be together where there are no 
foundation sheets used? Can they be 1% inches apart? I have 
them \y% inches, from center to center, and the bees build more 
combs in a hive than there are frames. 

A. You cannot have combs built true without having at least 




Fig. 18. Section of a grooved frame, showing method of fastening foundation in 
the top-bar with a wedge. 



starters, and full sheets are best, and 1^6 is close enough. If you 
try 1% you will find the bees will do still worse than with 1^. 
The Dadants use frames spaced \y 2 from center to center. 

Q. Would you advise wiring or putting splints in shallow ex- 
tracting-frames (5^6 inches deep), or would they be as well with- 
out wire or splints? 

A. You can get along without any sort of support for the 
foundation by being more careful in handling the frames and 
taking a little more time with the extractor, especially while the 
combs are new. The time of putting in the supports must be 
figured against the extra time of manipulation without supports. 

Q. I suggest, instead of the 10-frame hive being made wider, 
that the frames be made one-sixteenth of an inch narrower, 
which would leave five-eighths of an inch more extra room than 
there is now. So as not to decrease greatly the space between 
the top-bars it would probably be good to have the top-bars at 
least one-thirty-second of an inch narrower than they now are. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 103 

I believe frames one and five-sixteenths inches wide would be 
plenty wide enough. 

A. I don't believe you would like the plan. If you had loose- 
hanging frames it might do, and in that case there would be no 
need to make frames any narrower. But now fixed-distance 
frames are mostly in use, and \y% from center to center is as little 
as ought to be allowed. Indeed some prefer V/ 2 . You say, "I be- 
lieve frames 1 5-16 inches wide would be wide enough." I should 
say so ! I think no one has them wider than 1%. Evidently you 
mean the space from center to center, and, as already said, I 
don't think you would be satisfied with less than lj^. If you 
should try it, better try it on a very small scale. 

Q. What size of extracting-frames are better, the shallow 
frames or the full depth? 

A. The shallow frames are the better, probably in every re- 
spect except that they cannot be used interchangeably with 
brood-combs. Shallow extracting-frames with side-bar 6 inches 
deep are liked best by the Dadants. 

Q. Which is the better extracting-frame, the seven-eighths- 
inch top-bar with two grooves, or the half-inch top-bar with one 
groove for extracted and chunk honey? 

A. One will probably work as well as the other. 

Q. How many frames would you advise putting in a 10-frame 
extracting-super in order to get nice, thick combs, using full 
sheets of foundation? I think it is easier to uncap thick combs. 
Will not the bees build brace or burr-combs if the extracting- 
frames are too far apart? 

A. Either 9 or 8 frames will work well. No trouble with 
combs built between in either case. If only 8 frames are used, it 
will increase the space between combs one-third of an inch, and 
bees will not start an extra comb in so small a space. 

Frame, Miller. — Q. Please explain the Miller frame. 

A. The frame is, of course, the regular Langstroth size, 17^x 
9%. Top-bar, bottom-bar and end-bars are uniform in width, \y% 
inches throughout their whole dimensions. The top-bar is %- 
inch thick, with the usual saw-kerf to receive the foundation, and 
close beside this is another kerf to receive the wedge that fastens 
the foundation. The length of the top-bar is 18^8 inches and ^$x 
9-16 is rabbetted out of each end to receive the end-bar. The end- 
bar is 8 9-16xl^gx^. The bottom-bar consists of two pieces, each 
17^x^2X%? This allows % inch between the two parts to receive 
the foundation, making the bottom-bar 1% inches wide when 
nailed. 



104 dr. miller's 

The object of the two parts to the bot+om-bar is to allow the 
foundation to come down between them, thus making a close fit 
without any pains to cut the foundation exactly. After the comb 
is built in the frame the bottom-bar is no better for being in two 
parts — perhaps not so good. Some of my frames have a solid 
bottom 17^x1^x^4, with the foundation cut to fit exactly down on 
the bottom-bar, I like them just as well. 

The side-spacing, which holds the frame the proper distance 
from its next neighbor, is accomplished by means of common 
wire nails. These nails are 1*4 inches long and rather heavy, 
about 3-32 inch in thickness, with a head less than J4 i ncn across. 
By means of a wooden gauge which allows them to be driven 
only to a fixed depth, they are driven in to such a depth that the 
head remains projecting out a fourth of an inch. 

Each frame has four spacing-nails. A nail is driven into each 
end of the top-bar on opposite sides, the nail being about an inch 
and a half from the extreme end of the top-bar, and a fourth of 
an inch from its upper surface. About 2% inches from the bottom 
of the frame a nail is driven into each end-bar, these nails being 
also on opposite sides. Hold the frame up before you in its nat- 
ural position, each hand holding one end of the top-bar, and the 
two nails at the right end will be on the side from you, while the 
two nails at the left end will be on the side nearest you. The end- 
spacing is done by means of the usual staple, about $i inch wide. 

Q. How is the foundation fastened to the top-bar? 

A. I prefer what is the usual way at the present time, as sug- 
gested in the foregoing description, the foundation being received 
in a saw-kerf and wedged there, but it can be fastened in any 
other way. 

Q. I would like to ask your opinion, after reading your book 
entitled "Fifty Years Among the Bees." On page 83 you give the 
dimensions of your frames, and further on you mention splints, 
which I think I would like. How would it do to make the bottom- 
bar the same thickness as the top-bar, and instead of having two 
grooves, one for foundation and one for wedge, have only one 
groove in each bar? Then by having a board nearly the same 
size as inside of frame, and thick enough to come to bottom of 
grooves, the foundation, by buckling a trifle, could be made to 
enter grooves? After boiling the splints in wax, buckle them into 
place the same as foundation. Then use hot wax along the top 
and bottom-bar to fasten it in. This would reduce the size of 
frame, but with the Hoffman frames I find it hard to get the bees 
to build down to the bottom bar as they should, so lose some 
space there anyway. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 105 

A. Your plan will work all right. But you don't need to have 
any kerf in the bottom-bar, and then you won't need to have it as 
thick as the top-bar. Indeed, if you wax the foundation, top and 
bottom, you will not need kerfs either place. I have some frames 
without the split bottom-bar, and it works all right. You may say 
you want the kerf to hold the splint. I never yet put a splint in 
a kerf, and see no need of it. Of course, the top-bar must be 
thick, kerf or no kerf. 

Q. What is your opinion of the use of the Miller or "metal- 
spaced" frame with top-bars seven-eighths inch square for any 
location, either comb or extracted honey, the idea being that the 
combs could be trimmed to the proper thickness with the narrow 
bar, while the knife would not work against the metal or nails, 
and at the same time the frame might be used for producing comb 
honey? 

A. It might work satisfactorily; but only after trial could one 
be sure about it. How much the metal spacers would be in the 
way of an uncapping-knife would depend upon their construction. 
If there is metal at each end on each side, there would be trouble. 
As you know, I use common nails as spacers. These are only on 
one end on each side of the frame, and by starting the knife at 
the end where the spacers are, there ought to be little danger of 
striking the knife on the metal. I have seen in foreign bee-papers 
mention of metal spacers that were removable, being taken off 
for extracting, and then put on again upon returning to the hive. 

Q. How thick should the follower be in order to hold the 
frames solidly together? 

A. Strictly speaking, the frames are never held solidly to- 
gether. They are crowded closely together against one side, but 
there is left a loose space at the other side between the dummy 
and the side of the hive. No possible harm can come from this 
except that it allows a little movement when hives are hauled 
over very rough roads, but I have never had any trouble in that 
way. The dummy is five-sixteenths of an inch thick. 

Q. How wide were the top-bars of the unspaced frame for- 
merly in use by you? 

A. Seven-eighths of an inch. 

Q. Did you find disadvantages in the unspaced frame other 
than those mentioned in your book? 

A. Yes, there was at least one other. As the frames hung en- 
tirely free, in time there was a little warping of some of the top- 
bars. Every slight twist of the top-bar would allow quite a bit of 



106 dr. miller's 

swing out of true at the bottom of the frame, so that it some- 
times happened that at the bottom, the end-bars or bottom-bars 
were glued together, a very unpleasant annoyance. 

Freezing of Bees. — Q. Do bees often freeze to death with 
plenty of stores? 

A. No; unless the colony is too weak or a small cluster of bees 
gets caught in a cold spell away from the main cluster. 

Fruit, Bees Injuring. — Q. Do bees injure sound fruit? 

A. No, they do not and cannot, since the mandibles of the 
honeybee are rounding, and cannot pierce the skins of sound fruit. 
Tests of this were made at the Ottawa Experiment Station in On- 
tario, Canada. First, strawberries were tried, then raspberries, 
neither of which were injured. 

The fruit was placed inside the hives, also in other places easy 
of access to the bees. Inside the hive the fruit was exposed in 
three different positions. 

(1) Whole fruit without any treatment. 

(2) Whole fruit that had been dipped in honey, in one half 
the super. 

(3) Punctured specimens in the other half the super. 

A second test of the same kind was made with peaches, pears, 
plums and grapes. 

"The bees began to work at once both upon the dipped and 
punctured fruit. The former was cleaned thoroughly of honey 
during the first night; upon the punctured fruit the bees clustered 
thickly, sucking the juice through the punctures as long as they 
could obtain any liquid. At the end of six days, all the fruit was 
carefully examined. The sound fruit was still uninjured in any 
way. The dipped fruit was in like condition, quite sound, but 
every vestige of honey had disappeared. The punctured fruit was 
badly mutilated and worthless ; beneath each puncture was a 
cavity, and in many instances decay had set in. The experiment 
was continued during the following week, the undipped fruit 
being left in the brood-chamber; the dipped fruit was given a new 
coating of honey and replaced in the super, and a fresh supply of 
punctured fruit was substituted for that which had been de- 
stroyed. 

"After the third week the bees that belonged to the two hives, 
which had been deprived of all their honey, appeared to be very 
sluggish, and there were many dead bees about the hives; the 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 107 

weather being damp and cool was very much against those colo- 
nies. These colonies had lived for the first three weeks on the 
punctured fruit and on the honey off of the fruit which had been 
dipped; as there were at that season few plants in flower from 
which they could gather nectar, these bees had died of starvation, 
notwithstanding the proximity of the ripe, juicy fruit. The supply 
of food which they were so urgently in need of was only sep- 
arated from them by the skin of the fruit, which, however, this 
evidence proves, they could not puncture, as they did not do so." 

Fruit-Bloom. — Q. Is there much honey from, fruit-bloom (prin- 
cipally apples) ? 

A. I am in a region of abundant fruit-bloom, but I never had 
a pound of surplus from it. It is all used up in rearing brood. 
If it came in the middle of June I should probably have had tons 
of honey from it. Yet I wouldn't for many dollars have it in June. 
The bees reared from fruit-bloom are what gather the surplus 
later on, and so fruit-bloom is of the highest value. In this region 
apple is worth all the rest put together, for it lasts two to four 
weeks, there being that difference between the earliest and latest 
varieties. 

Gentle Bees. — Q. What strain or race of bees do you consider 
most gentle and easy to handle? 

A. The Caucasians are claimed to be gentlest of all, but re- 
ports do not all agree. Italians are good. 

German Bee-Papers. — Q. Is there a German bee-paper pub- 
lished, either here or in foreign countries? 

A. No German bee-paper is published in this country, but a 
number across the water, among them Schweizerische Bienen- 
zeitung, Praktischer Wegweiser, Leipziger Bienenzeitung, Bie- 
nen-Vater, Deutsche Imker aus Boehmen. Names and addresses 
of German papers can probably be obtained by addressing re- 
quest to the office of the American Bee Journal. 

Giant Bee of India. — Q. Do you think the giant East Indian 
honeybee will ever be imported to this country? 

A. No; and I don't believe it would be of any value if it were 
brought here. 

Glass for Super-Covers. — Q. I have noticed two or three 
times in the American Bee Journal beekeepers using a sheet of 
glass for a super cover. I would like to adopt it myself if it 



108 dr. miller's 

would be advisable, but before deciding would like to have your 
opinion for and against it. 

A. Some have reported success in using glass over the brood- 
chamber, especially in England, while others object to it. I'm not 
sure what the objection is, but suppose there would be trouble 
with vapor condensing on the glass and dropping down upon the 
bees. The advantage is that you can see through the glass, yet 
there is not so very much to be seen without lifting out anything. 
You will probably be wise not to try it on a very large scale, at 
first. 

Gloves. — Q. What kind of gloves do you think best for 
handling bees? Will bees sting through kid gloves? 

A. Bees will sting through anything as thin as kid gloves. 
Buckskin does better, but is not always proof against stings. 
Rubber gloves are good, but uncomfortable. Pigskin is probably 
as good as anything, and not expensive. It has a disagreeable 
smell, especially when new. Oiled cotton gloves are in common 
use, and do very well. 

Glucose. — Q. Is syrup that contains 95 per cent glucose and 5 
per cent sorghum good to feed to bees? 

A. No; commercial glucose is not fit stuff for man or bee. 
Don't think of giving bees glucose in any proportion whatever, 
any time. 

Goldenrod. — Q. Does the goldenrod yield honey, that is, does 
it yield enough for a surplus? 

A. Yes ; in many sections of the central west and of the east, 
goldenrod is a surplus producer. In other localities it only helps 
in the fall flow. Its honey is said to be of a golden color and of 
a rather strong taste. There are many varieties and some do not 
yield honey anywhere. 

Grading Rules. — Q. By what standard is honey (comb and ex- 
tracted) graded for the market? 

A. The Colorado grading rules, as adopted b> the Colorado 
Honey Producers' Association, come as near being the standard 
as any. They are as follows : 

COMB HONEY 
Fancy — Sections to be well filled, combs firmly attached 
on all sides and evenly capped, except the outside row next 
to the wood. Honey, comb and cappings white, or slightly off 
color. Combs not projecting beyond the wood, sections to be well 
cleaned. No section in this grade to weigh less than \2 l / 2 ounces 
net or \3 J / 2 ounces gross. The top of each section in this grade 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 109 

must be stamped, "Net weight not less than \2y 2 ounces." 

The front sections in each case must be of uniform color and 
finish, and shall be a true representation of the contents of the 
case. 

Xo. 1. — Sections to be well filled, combs firmly attached, not 
projecting beyond the wood, and entirely capped, except the out- 
side row, next to the wood. Honey, comb and cappings from 
white to light amber in color. Sections to be cleaned. No section 
in this grade to weigh less than 11 ounces net or 12 ounces gross. 
The top of each section in this grade must be stamped, "Net 
weight not less than 11 ounces." The front sections in each case 
must be of uniform color and finish, and shall be a true represen- 
tation of the contents of the case. 

No. 2. — This grade is composed of sections that are entirely 
capped, except row next to the wood, weighing not less than 10 
ounces net or 11 ounces gross. Also of such sections that weigh 
11 ounces net or 12 ounces gross, or more, and have not more than 
50 uncapped cells altogether, which must be filled with honey. 
Honey, comb and cappings from white to amber in color. Sec- 
tions to be well cleaned. The top of each section in this grade 
must be stamped, "Net weight not less than 10 ounces." The front 
sections in each case must be of uniform color and finish, and 
shall be a true representation of the contents of the case. 

Honey that is not permitted in shipping grades is as follows : 

Honey packed in second-hand cases. 

Honey in badly stained or mildewed sections. 

Honey showing signs of granulation. 

Leaking, injured or patched up sections. 

Sections containing honeydew. 

Sections with more than 50 uncapped cells or a less number of 
empty cells. 

Sections weighing less than the minimum weight. 

All such honey should be disposed of in the home market. 

EXTRACTED HONEY 

Extracted honey is classed as white, light amber and amber; 
the letters "W.," "L. A.," "A." should be used in designating color, 
and these letters should be stamped on top of each can. Ex- 
tracted honey for shipping must be packed in new, substantial 
cases of proper size. 

Extracted honey should be thoroughly ripened, weighing not 
less than 12 pounds per gallon. It must be well strained and 
packed in new cans; 60 pounds shall be packed in each 5-gallon 
can, and the top of each 5-gallon can shall be stamped or labeled, 
"Net weight not less than 60 pounds." 

Strained honey must be well ripened, weighing not less than 12 
pounds per gallon. It must be well strained, and if packed in 5- 
gallon cans each can shall contain 60 pounds. The top of each 
5-gallon can shall be stamped or labeled "Xet weight not less than 
69 pounds." Bright, clean cans that previously contained honey 
may be used for strained honey. 



110 DR. MILLER'S 

Honey not permitted in shipping grades is as follows: 
Extracted honey packed in second-hand cans. 
Unripe or fermenting honey, weighing less than 12 pounds per 
gallon. 

Honey contaminated by excessive use of smoke. 
Honey not properly strained. 
Honey contaminated by honeydew. 

Granulation of Honey. — Q. What causes the granulation of 
honey? Is there any way to prevent it? I sold some to a man 
this fall. He says it was granulated in the combs and he will not 
buy any more. Does it make any difference when the honey is 
gathered from different flowers as to its "sugaring"? 

A. The granulation of honey is caused, or at least hastened, 
by cold. Some honey, however, granulates readily without being 
reduced to a low temperature, since the honey from some plants 
granulates very readily, while the honey from some other plants 
scarcely granulates at all. Frequent changes from warm to cold 
favor granulation more than a steady continuance of cold. 
Stirring honey hastens granulation. If honey is heated as much 
as it will stand without injuring the aroma or flavor, say some- 
where below 160 degrees, and sealed up while hot, it will continue 
liquid. 

Your inquiry, however, is more particularly about comb honey. 
While honey in the comb is slower about granulation than ex- 
tracted honey, we are more helpless about preventing granulation 
or reducing it to a liquid state after it is once granulated. To be 
sure some have reported melting comb honey — or bringing it 
again to a liquid state — without injuring the comb, yet it must be 
a rather ticklish job. I think that honey left a considerable time 
on the hive is less inclined to granulate than that which is re- 
moved just as soon as it is sealed, but here you meet the trouble 
that leaving it on the hive too long darkens the comb. Perhaps 
the best you can do is to leave your sections on as long as you 
can without having the combs darkened, and then keep them in 
as warm a place as you can until sold. 

Q. Under what conditions can extracted honey be most 
quickly granulated, or candied, so that it can be sold in paper 
packages? I am not engaged in beekeeping, and haven't much 
literature on the subject. 

A. In Europe, where there is more desire to have honey 
granulate than here, they stir the honey occasionally. Mixing a 
little granulated honey with the liquid also helps. There is a 
great difference in the kinds of honey. Some honey begins to 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 111 

granulate as soon as extracted, while other honey may remain 
liquid a year or more. 

Q. Can combs containing granulated honey be fed to the bees 
in the spring? If not, what can I do with them? 

A. You can give them to the bees, but unless some precaution 
is taken they will throw out the granules and waste them. 
Sprinkle them with water, then give them to the bees, and as often 
as they lick them up dry, sprinkle them again. 

Grapes. — Q. In central California the grapes are sour (not 
much sugar) and my bees have gathered some of this juice, con- 
sequently the honey has a somewhat sour taste. Is this good 
winter feed for the bees or for consumption? (California.) 

A. My guess is that it will not be good for winter stores. It 
will be all right for consumption if the taste is not objectionable, 
and of that you can judge better than I. The same may be said of 
all fruit juices. 

Guards (See Entrance Guards.) 

Handling Bees. — Q. How warm should it be by the thermome- 
ter when it is safe to handle bees in ordinary manipulation? 

A. About 70 degrees. Instead of going by the thermometer, it 
may be better to say, don't handle bees any time when they are 
not flying freely. But if you merely lift out a frame and quickly 
return it, as when you want to know in the spring whether brood 
is present, then it may be safe at 55 degrees or less. 

Q. I have a colony of bees that I have left outside with a box 
cover packed with leaves. They have nothing over the brood- 
frames, but are wintering finely. Does it hurt the bees much to 
open the hive in cold weather? 

A. Sometimes it does a great deal of harm, even to the death 
of the colony, to open the hive and disturb the bees when it is 
too cold for them to fly. When it is warm enough for them to fly, 
it may do little or no harm; but when very cold, better not dis- 
turb them unless there is danger of starvation. 

Hanging Out of Bees. — Q. My bees have been hanging from 
the top of the hive to the ground. They fly around the hive and 
then cluster. Only a few seem to work. They have been doing 
this for two weeks. Are they getting ready to swarm? 

A. I don't know enough about the conditions to answer. If 
no nectar is to be had, that may be a sufficient reason for their 
idleness. If there is a good flow of nectar, hanging out might be 
a sign they are getting ready to swarm, and yet they would hardly 



112 



DR. MILLER S 



keep that up for two weeks. So, on the whole, it looks more as 
if there is nothing for them to do, yet that may not be the case at 
all. Give them more room, more ventilation and more shade. 




Fig. 19. A colony "hanging out" all over its hive; caused by lack of room, lack 
of shade, and insufficient ventilation. 



Hatching. — Q. My attention has been called to the word 
"hatch." Do bees hatch more than once? Would it not be better 
to have the bees hatch once and emerge to come into existence? 

A. You are quite right; it would be better to say that the 
larva "hatches" from the egg, and the young bee "emerges" from 
the cell. Indeed, you will find that quite often the word "emerges" 
is used in that way, although generally it is said that the young 
bee hatches out of the cell. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 113 

Q. How long is it from an egg to a bee? I mean how long 
after the egg is laid till it is a full-grown bee? 

A. For a queen, 15 or 16 days ; for a worker, 21 days ; for a 
drone, 24 days. 

Heartsease. — Q. My bees have done well in this part of South- 
ern Kansas this season. There is no trouble in wintering here, 
as they have a flight nearly every week. I expect to move to 
south-central Iowa this fall. Will my bees winter successfully 
there on heartsease honey, or would it be better to extract the 
honey from the brood-nest and feed sugar syrup? In 1905, some 
of my bees died of dysentery wintering on heartsease honey and 
not being able to take a flight for about six weeks on account of 
the severe weather. 

A. It is possible that heartsease honey was not to blame for 
the trouble of 1905. Surely thousands of colonies have wintered 
on it, and it has not had the name of being bad for winter food. 
My bees wintered well last winter, and I think a good share of 
their honey was heartsease. 

Hive-Stand. — Q. Which is better, a hive-stand a couple of feet 
high, or one a few inches high, with the entrance-board slanting, 
so that in case the clipped queen went out to swarm she could 
crawl back in the hive again and thus not be lost? 

A. For you it may be better to have the hive quite low. Where 
certain kinds of ants are bad (generally in the south), it is well 
to have the hive on legs so that by means of dishes of oil or water 
the ants may be prevented from getting into hives. 

Hives. — Q. I would like to know if there is a book on making 
hives? 

A. I know of no such book. 

Q. I am not a young man m years, but am young in the 
knowledge of bees. I keep bees only for the honey I can get. 
What use is there for me to use patent hives when I know noth- 
ing about them? Why is not my old-fashioned gum with a good, 
big, plain box-cap just as good for getting the same amount of 
honey in a season as the patent hives? 

A. Let me say, first, that most of the hives in use now by 
practical beekeepers have no patent on them, the patent on the 
Langstroth movable frame having expired many years ago. So 
3 r our question probably is : What advantage is there for you in 
movable-frame hives over common box-hives? Perhaps there is 
no advantage. It depends upon circumstances. The movable- 
frame hive is no better for the bees than a box-hive; in general 
not so good. It has really only one advantage over a box-hive. 



114 DR. MILLER'S 

but sometimes a single advantage counts for much. A man with 
his head on has the single advantage over the one with his head 
cut off that he still has his head on; but that is a considerable ad- 
vantage. The one advantage that the. movable-frame hive has 
over the box-hive is that the frames can be taken out and put 
back again. But that advantage is of no value to those bee- 
keepers who never lift out the frames from one year's end to the 
other. If I had no notion of ever lifting out a frame I would pre- 
fer box-hives. 

Possibly you may want to know what advantage there is in 
being able to lift out frames. For one thing, you can tell by lifting 
out the frames whether a colony is queenless or not, and if it is 
queenless you can remedy it. With a box-hive it is practically im- 
possible either to detect or to cure queenlessness. That one dif- 
ference between the two kinds of hive is enough to decide in 
favor of the movable-frame kind, provided one intends to take 
advantage of the movable feature. It would be a pretty long story 
to tell all the things that can be done with a movable-frame hive 
that cannot be done with a box-hive, among which are examina- 
tion for disease and treating for the same, introducing queens, 
strengthening weak colonies by giving frames of hatching-brood, 
etc. j ,-i 

Q. Please give me some advice on what kind of hives to use. 

A. Opinions differ as to what is the best hive. Some are par- 
tial to this or that particular hive which the majority of bee- 
keepers would hardly take as a gift. The greater number, how- 
ever, perhaps nine out of every ten, would tell you to take the 
10-frame dovetailed hive. You can hardly go amiss on that. But 
please remember that the hive does not make very much differ- 
ence in the work of the bees. A good colony of bees will store 
just as much honey in an old-fashioned straw hive as it will in 
the most up-to-date hive. But it makes a big difference to the 
beekeeper whether the hive is such that he can easily get at the 
honey and perform the various manipulations that he may think 
necessary. 

Q. What are the dimensions of an 8-frame Langstroth hive 
and super? Also the frames? 

A. Some of the dimensions of the 8-frame hive have varied 
from time to time, but I'll give you what I think will generally 
be found today: 

Length, inside measure, 18^4 inches; width, 12j^ ; depth, 9}i ; 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 115 

but, as the dryest lumber you are likely to get will shrink some- 
what, it is better to make the depth 9 J / 2 . The super has the same 
length and width as the hive. Its depth depends upon what it 
contains. If it is an extracting-super, it will be the same as the 
hive-body, provided the frames are to be the same as those in 
the brood-chamber. In any case, the depth of the extracting- 
super will be one-fourth inch more than the depth of the frame 
to be used in it, allowance to be made for shrinkage, if there is 
to be any shrinkage. The depth of the section-super must be 
such that there shall be one-fourth inch space left at the top of 
the super. 

The frame is 17% by 9%, outside measure. Width of top-bar 
varies from lj/g down to %; and the same may be said of end-bars 
and bottom-bar. Some have the same width as the top-bar, and 
some have them narrower. In any case, the frames are generally 
spaced so that the distance from center to center shall be 1%, 
although some prefer V/ 2 . With the spacing 1%, there is plenty of 
room for a thin dummy or follower beside the frames. 

Q. What are the exact measurements of a 10-frame hive, in- 
side measure? 

A. Unfortunately, there are no "exact measurements" that 
all makers have always used in making hives to take 10 frames 
of Langstroth size. The depth of the frames being 9% inches, if 
J4 inch be added to that to make a beespace, we would have 9% for 
the depth of the hive. But a very little shrinkage would make 
bad work, and to make sure against that, the hive is made 9 l /i 
inches deep. The length of the frame is 17%, and if % inch be 
added at each end we would have 18^ for the length of the hive. 
But that makes very close work, and bees are not much inclined 
to build at the ends of the hive, so the length is not less than 
19^4. For an 8-frame hive I think there is general agreement on 
12^8 for the width. That allows 11 inches for the 8 frames spaced 
m, and 1% inches for a dummy % thick, with a space each side 
of it. If we add twice 1%, or 2^4 inches, for two additional 
frames, we would have 14^ for the width of a 10-frame hive. But 
for some reason that never seemed satisfactory to me, the dummy 
is generally omitted in 10-frame hives, and they are made 14^4 
inches wide. So I think we may say, as nearly as we can come 
to standard, that the inside measurements of the 10-frame hive 
are. 18^4x14^x9^. As a side remark, I may say that I think 



116 DR. MILLER'S 

some of the hives are not more than 9j^ deep, although I think 
they were 9y 2 when new. 

Q. Do you think the bees will gather more honey in a 10-frame 
hive than they will in an 8-frame? 

A. Not necessarily. Of course, a stronger colony ought to get 
more honey, but just as strong a colony can be in an 8-frame 
hive as in a 10-frame, for two stories of the 8-frame can be used 
if need be. Of course this would be a 16-frame hive. 

Q. I would like to ask a few questions concerning that large 
hive. 

(a) When you take that second hive off, don't you have trouble 
with brood, or do you use an excluder? 

(b) Do your bees go to work in the supers as readily as when 
only one hive-body was used? 

A. (a) I use 8-frame hives which can hardly be called "large 
hives," so I suppose you refer to my using two stories as brood- 
chambers, making practically a 16-frame hive. I put on a second 
brood-story whenever the first becomes crowded, unless I take 
away some of the brood to use elsewhere. I reduce to one story 
at the time of putting on supers for surplus. There is so little 
trouble with brood in sections that I don't think it worth while 
to use excluders. But if I didn't fill the sections full of founda- 
tion, I should have to use excluders. 

(b) Yes, perhaps more readily. 

Q. What "kind of a beehive do you prefer, without porch or 
with porch, and why? 

A. The Langstroth hive was at first made with a portico. 
Latterly very few have the portico, perhaos chieflv because it fur- 
nishes such a nice refuge for spiders, causing the death of too 
many bees. 

Q. Is a hive supposed to sit level? 

A. It should slant a little to the front, the front end being an 
inch or two lower than the back end. It should be level from 
side to side. 

Q. I have seven colonies of bees, four in 8-frame hives and 
three in 10-frame hives. At 1 :30 today the bees of all the smaller 
hives were flying, while the others were not. I examined them, 
and found one of the colonies dead, though there was about 30 
pounds of nice honey left. In the dead colony there was a double 
handful of bees and lots of drones. 

I cannot account for this. It looks as if 8-frame hives were 
better for wintering in northern Iowa than the 10-frame. All the 
colonies had plenty of honey. (December 28, Iowa.) 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 117 

A. The number of colonies is rather small to deduce a gen- 
eral rule; but even if you had a larger number it is not a dead 
open-and-shut affair that the smaller hives are better winterers. 
As to that dead colony in the 10-frame hive, it's about certain 
that the size of the hive cuts no figure. They had no normal 
laying queen and had not had one for weeks, for the dead bees 
were few, and part of them were drones. We have left, then, the 
four 8-frame hives, and the two 10-frame, and you are evidently of 
the opinion that the bees in the latter two were in too poor 
condition to fly, while the bees in the smaller hives flew well. 
Well, as there were only two of them, it might just happen that 
those two were poorer than the others. But did it never occur to 
you that it might be that those two colonies did not fly because 
they were in too good condition to fly? That would be my guess. 
December 28 the bees had not been confined very long, and these 
two colonies were doing so well that they did not yet feel the 
need of a flight. At any rate, wait until spring, and then you can 
tell with more certainty which has done the better. 

Q. Will bees go into old hives as well as into new ones when 
they have become damp inside several times, but have never been 
used before? 

A. Yes, if the hives are sweet and clean. 

Q. For a beginner, which would you recommend, the 8-frame 
Jumbo brood-chamber, or the 10-frame Langstroth? 
A. The 10-frame Langstroth. 

Q. The cuts showing how to nail dovetailed hives, nail only 
every other dovetail. Do you think that is the best way, or should 
every one be nailed? 

A. At top and bottom nail at least two consecutive dovetails; 
it's not so important about the central ones. I have had pretty 
good success by driving a nail vertically at top, and one at bottom. 

Q. Which hive do you recommend for a beginner, the Tri- 
State, Dovetailed, or Leahy telescope? Also which number of 
frame, 8 or 10? (I am located in northeast Missouri.) 

A. These all have the regular Langstroth frame, 17^x9^, the 
size to be recommended, and aside from this the particular form 
of hive does not matter greatly. The dovetailed has the advan- 
tage that it is the one most generally in use. As to the number 
of frames, the 10-frame is decidely better. 

Q. Is it not easier to cut out queen-cells in the Danzenbaker 
hive than in the Langstroth? I am pretty badly smitten on the 



118 



DR. MILLER S 



Danzenbaker hive, but I see you do not like it as well as the 
8-frame Langstroth. 

A. I know of no reason why it should be easier. If you take 

into account taking out and putting back frames, it is harder. 

Q. I have been looking through the American Bee Journal for 
dimensions of the Dadant hive and frame about which I wrote 




Fig. 20. Cross-section of the Dadant hive as taken from "Langstroth Revised." 

Mr. Dadant some months ago, but cannot find them. Will you 
kindly give them in the replies to queries? The expense of get- 
ting a sample hive here is too great. 

A. The dimensions of the Dadant hive are not given in any 
previous number of the American Bee Journal ;• they are to be 
found only in the Langstroth-Dadant book and in Bertrand's 
"Conduite du Rucher" (Conduct of the Apiary), which has been 
published in eight different languages. The dimensions of the 
frame are about the same as those of the' original Quinby mova- 
ble frame. The hive is especially adapted to the production of 
extracted honey, and that is why it is very much more widely 
used in the countries where modern beekeepers can secure almost 
as much for extracted per pound as for section honey. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 119 

Q. Kindly give the manipulations of divisible brood-chamber 
hives. 

A. Perhaps no two who use divisible hives manage them ex- 
actly alike. In a general way, I may say that advantage of di- 
visible hives is taken by reducing to a single story at time of 
giving supers, although some make the first and second stories 
exchange places. This last, you will see, throws the honey that 
was above the brood-nest right into the middle, and the bees are 
supposed to get busy carrying it up into the supers for the sake 
of getting brood in its place. 

Q. I have decided that a divisible hive consisting of shallow 
frames and supers, one, two or three, according to the strength 
of the queen, is about what I want. Is it a practical combination? 
It looks to me like this hive will be extremely easy of manipula- 
tion and that the job of queen and queen-cell finding will be min- 
imized. I wish to winter out of doors, and think I can make a 
warm hive of the shallow frames and supers by contracting the 
brood-nest horizontally with a tight division-board on each side 
and packing between them and the outside; the ends being 
closed. 

A. I doubt the advisability of your trying shallow or divisible- 
chamber hives. To be sure, some good beekeepers use them, 
but the majority of beekeepers prefer a frame not less than the 
Langstroth, and some like a still larger frame. If you do decide to 
use some of the divisible hives, try only a very few at first, until 
you decide whether they are suited to your use. 

Q.Which is better in a double-walled hive, a dead-air space, or 
planer shavings packing? 

A. It is generally considered better to have packing in the 
space. Theoretically, air might be thought a better non-conduc- 
tor than shavings, and so it is if the air would remain still; but 
the trouble is that it will not remain still, but when a part of it 
becomes warm, at the warmest part it travels to a cooler part to 
give up its heat there. The packing stops it from traveling so 
much. 

Q. Is a "chaff" hive entirely practical? If not, what are the 
objections to it? I have no cave and do not like to contemplate 
the work incident to packing 50 or more hives with paper or 
other material. 

A. Chaff hives have been successfully used to quite a large 
extent, although perhaps not so much as formerly. One objec- 
tion is their weight and unwieldiness ; another that when the sun 



120 dr. miller's 

shines on a hive in winter it takes too long for the heat to pene- 
trate the thick walls. They are much used in northern states. 

Q. (a) Do the double-walled hives produce more honey than 
the single-walled? 

(b) Are bees wintered out-of-doors better in the former hive 
than in the latter? 

A. (a) No; and in general it may be said that differences in 
hives are more for the convenience of the beekeeper than for the 
bees. Looking at it in another way, however, if two hives stand 
side by side, one with double walls and the other with very thin 
walls entirely unprotected out-doors in a very cold climate, it 
might be said that more honey would be produced in one than 
the other, because the bees might nearly all die in one and not 
in the other in winter, and that would make a difference in the 
amount stored the next summer. 

(b) Not if the single-walled hive is well packed. 

Q. I use the Acme hive and Wisconsin style. Which is better, 
in your judgment? 

A. I like the Wisconsin the better of the two, because it has 
the regular Langstroth frame. The dovetailed is still better, be- 
cause the portico of the Wisconsin makes a good shelter for 
spiders. 

Q. Would a 12-frame hive be all right to use here in northern 
United States? Would the bees swarm as much as they do in 
8-frame hives, or would it prevent swarming? 

A. Some use 12-frame hives with great satisfaction. Although 
they will not prevent swarming entirely, there will be much less 
swarming than with 8-frame hives, and with them you should get 
as much honey. 

Q. Kindly refer me to any bee-papers or other sources of in- 
formation about the Long-Idea hive. 

A. I don't know just where to refer you, although years ago 
there was quite a little scattered through the bee-papers about 
the Long-Idea hive. Although used somewhat largely in Europe, 
it is used very little in this country. O. O. Poppelton is its chief 
apostle, a very able beekeeper of Florida, who likes it much. All 
there is of it is to make the one story large enough to contain 
all the frames you want, so as to use no second story. Some use 
a queen-excluder so as to separate the hive into two compart- 
ments, one for brood and the other for honey. I'm not sure about 
it, but I rather think Mr. Poppleton does not use this excluder. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 121 

Holy Land Bees. — Q. Are the Holy Land bees a different kind 
from the others, or are they a substitute under a different name? 
I would like a description of them— color, etc. 

A. The Holy Land is the same as the Palestine, and comes 
from Palestine. They are distinguished as being very prolific, and 
for starting and maturing a great number of queen-cells ; but for 
some reason they seem not to be in general favor. 






1 



mm 



Fig. 21. Blossom and stalk of the bitterweed of the South. It is the cause of 

most bitter honey. 

Honey, Bitter. — Q. In this vicinity, 30 miles north of Chatta- 
nooga, all of the honey stored before May 20, this year, was de- 
cidedly bitter. Some say it was peach bloom, some black gum, 
some dogwood. Do any of these cause bitter honey? 

I have been inclined to think the bitter honey came from the 
bitterweed, or yellow fennel, which was stored in the brood-cham- 
ber last September, as there was lots of it in this section last fall. 
Some of my colonies stored as much as 20 or 30 pounds apiece in 
supers. It was as bitter as quinine. I fed it to weaker colonies. 
Could this have been removed from the brood-chamber and car- 
ried into the super, as they wanted to make room for the brood, 
and mixed with other honey? 



122 dr. miller's 

A. I'm rather glad to live where I have no chance for prac- 
tical knowledge of such objectionable honey. 

Generally, the honey in the brood-chamber is used up for 
brood, but if the queen were crowded for room the bees might 
carry honey from the brood-chamber into the super to make room 
for her. 

Helenium tenuifolium, also called "bitterweed" and "sneeze- 
weed," yields bitter honey, but it is not the same as fennel (Anthe- 
mis cotula), which is a chamomile and yields no honey. 

Honey, Bottled. — Q. What do you think of the plan of bottling 
honey and making it an expensive luxury so that the consumer 
can just taste of it occasionally? Would there not be more of the 
spirit of "loving our neighbors as ourselves" to cut out the middle 
system of bottling and sell it to him at a figure so that he can 
make it an article of everyday diet? In the long run, would there 
not be more dollars and cents for the beekeeper? 

A. The way to do is to sell honey in as large and inexpensive 
containers as possible so as to make as little expense as possible 
for each pound sold. That ought to give the consumer the most 
for his money and the producer the most money for his honey. 
Unfortunately, however, we are often controlled by conditions 
and circumstances. A large part of the consuming public is in 
the habit of buying in small quantities. A Chicago retail grocer 
who should keep honey only in 20 to 60-pound packages would 
probably sell very little honey; whereas, plenty of customers will 
buy a pound at a time, even if they must pay for a bottle of no 
value to them. What better can he do than to keep the small 
packages? 

Honey, Color of. — Q. I would like to know the cause of dark 
honey. 

A. The color of honey depends upon the source from which 
the bees obtain the nectar. From buckwheat they get honey that 
is very dark, from fireweed that which is very light, and varying 
grades from other plants. Sometimes there is a difference in the 
shade of the same kind of honey obtained in different regions or 
on different soils. Some alfalfa honey is a shade darker than the 
lightest to be found elsewhere. 

Q. The bees are all storing dark honey, and it has a strong 
flavor. No one seems to know what causes it, as we have lots of 
white clover, and also lots of rain. 

A. The trouble may be honeydew, and there is no remedy, 
unless it be to take off all surplus arrangements at the beginning 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 123 

and end of the honeydew flow. Indeed, it is the same if the dark 
honey comes from any other source. 

Honey, Foaming. — Q. In a covered tank I have honey har- 
vested a few months ago. Whenever I dip it up with a spoon 
and fill a glass it becomes all foamy and runs out of the glass. 
Does it show that the honey is not ripe? I don't remember if it 
was all sealed. 

A. The probability is that the honey was very unripe. 

Honey, Freezing. — Q. It is the custom here in Russia to keep 
and sell honey in wooden tubs without any covers. Usually it 
granulates in October or November. It is kept all winter in build- 
ings without stoves, where the temperature is under freezing 
point. Does freezing injure honey? 

A. Freezing does not in any way injure granulated honey. 
It hastens the granulation of liquid honey, and may crack the 
combs of comb honey. 

Honey, Harvesting. — Q. What month can honey be harvested? 
(New York.) 

A. Comb honey is generally ready to be harvested whenever 
it is fully sealed over. That probably means in your locality that 
most of it will be taken off in July and August and still later if 
there is a late flow. The same rule applies to extracted honey, 
only some of the best beekeepers prefer to leave all on the hives 
until the close of the season. 

Q. A day or two ago I removed a super of honey, either bass- 
wood or sumac, which was entirely sealed over. Upon tasting the 
honey I found it left a raw taste in my mouth. I suspect it was 
green, and gave it to the bees again. How can I tell when it is 
ripened? 

A. Generally honey is ripe when it is sealed, and it may be 
that the objectionable taste comes from some peculiar plant. If 
that be the case, the bad taste ma} r or may not disappear. Indeed, 
basswood itself has the reputation of a raw taste until it has at- 
tained a certain age, and that taste may disappear, even if the 
honey be off the hive. I know of no way you can tell when it is 
ripe except by the taste and the consistency. 

Q. (a) When is the best time to take honey from the bees, at 
noon, in the morning, or in the evening? 

(b) How can I kill bees and save the honey? I have two little 
swarms that are not worth keeping. 

(c) How can I get the bees separated from the honey after 
it is taken off? 

A. (a) That depends somewhat on circumstances. Generally 



124 dr. miller's 

beekeepers take comb honey from time to time as fast as each 
super is finished and sealed, or nearly so. In that case most of 
it is taken during the season that bees are busy at work, and it is 
better to operate while most of the gatherers are abroad in the 
field, and not so early in the morning or late in the evening. If, 
however, bee-escapes are used, they are put on toward the after 
part of the day, and the honey taken before the middle of the 
next day. 

Much the same thing may be said about taking extracted 
honey, although some of our best practitioners do not take their 
extracted until the close of the season for each kind of honey. 
Of course, it is also true that the last of the comb honey is taken 
at the close of the flow. At such times there may be some gain 
by getting at work pretty early in the day, before robbers are 
much on the wing. Those who are in the business extensively do 
not pay much attention to the time of day, but work away any 
time of day, or the whole day, just as suits their convenience. 

(b) The usual way to kill bees is with the fumes of burning 
sulphur. But if each of those colonies is too small to be worth 
saving you may be able to make one fair colony out of the two. 
Or, you could add each one to some colony that would be the 
better to be a little stronger. Nowadays it is not usually consid- 
ered good practice to kill bees. 

(c) There are various ways of getting bees out of surplus 
honey. Some use the Porter bee-escape. Some drive part of the 
bees out with smoke then pile up the supers on the ground and 
set a Miller escape on top of each pile. Some simply brush them 
off the extracting-combs. For a small quantity you can put the 
honey in a large box, put a sheet over it, and turn the sheet over 
from time to time as the bees collect on it. 

Q. I have several supers of fine honey all capped over and fin- 
ished. Would you advise me to take it off and put it in a well- 
ventilated room, or leave it in the hive? If the latter, how long? 

A. Take it off as soon as finished. The honey will be as good 
or better if left on longer, but the comb will become dark. Keep 
it in a dry, warm place. 

Honey, Keeping. — Q. Can honey from this year be kept till 
next year without spoiling? 

A. Yes, there is no trouble in keeping extracted honey over, 
and even comb honey may be kept in a dry, warm place. 

Q. In reply to the question when to take off supers, you say, 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 125 

"Take off each super when it is full." Now, will you please tell 
me how to take care of the honey after taking it off, until I can 
sell or eat it? If I take the super off and put it, no matter where, 
the ants get at it. 

A. Keep the honey in a warm, dry, airy place. If warm and 
dry it doesn't matter so much about being airy. A place where 
salt will keep dry, and where it never freezes is a pretty good 
place. One way to keep it from ants is to have it closed in some- 
thing so tight-fitting that ants cannot get to it. That's a hard 
thing to do, especially with a large quantity. An easier way is 
to put it on some kind of platform supported on four feet, each 
foot resting in some old dish or can kept supplied with some kind 
of oil or water. Perhaps you can kill off the ants. If you can 
trace them to their nest, you can give them a dose of bisulphide 
of carbon, or gasoline. You can wring a sponge out of sweet- 
ened water and put it where the ants will collect on it, then dip 
ants and all in boiling water, repeating the performance until 
you have used up the ants. This last you must, of course, do be- 
fore the ants begin on the honey, for they may prefer the honey 
to a sweetened sponge. 

Honey, Kind to Produce. — Q. I have been running my apiary 
for chunk honey, but find that I can find a sale for quite a lot of 
extracted honey. I have a few nice, straight combs on medium 
brood-foundation, wired. What would be the storing capacity of 
one colony with 1-inch foundation-starters, one colony with full 
sheets of medium brood-foundation, as compared with a colony 
with full-drawn combs ; that is, if a colony with full-drawn combs 
could fill 20 frames, about how much could the other respective 
colonies fill, everything else being equal? I expect to use full 
sheets of thin surplus for chunk honey, and full sheets of medium 
for extracting. I ask these questions simply to have some idea 
as to how much foundation of each kind to buy this season. 

A. I don't know. If you want me to guess, I'm willing to do 
my best at guessing. I must premise that by saying that the 
answer depends somewhat upon the flow. If a short and very 
heavy flow is on, the fully drawn combs will have a much greater 
advantage than they will have in a light and long-continued flow. 
In the former case, while the colony with full combs stores 20 
pounds, the colony with one-inch foundation-starters will store 
from 10 to 15 pounds, and the colony with full sheets of thin sur- 
plus from 12 to 17. With medium brood-foundation it ought to do 
just a little better than with thin surplus. 

In the case of the long, slow flow, while built combs give 20, 



126 dr. miller's 

the starters should give 15 to 18, and the full sheets of foundation 
16 to 19. I can, however, imagine an extreme case with an im- 
mensely heavy flow lasting only a day or two, in which 20 pounds 
would be stored in built combs and not a drop in the others. On 
the other hand, I can imagine a very long flow with a very little 
more gathered daily than the bees need for their own use, and 
very nearly as much stored with starters as with full combs. But 
remember that all this is only guessing, and my guesser may not 
work in perfect order. I think the editor-in-chief knows more 
about it than I do, and I'd be glad to have his guess, even if it 
makes mine look like the guess of a beginner. 

(My guess would be a greater difference when built combs 
yielded 20 pounds, say 10 to 15 pounds for starters, and 15 to 18 
for sheets of foundation. I have seen sometimes what Dr. Miller 
states, 15 to 20 pounds in built combs and not a drop in the oth- 
ers. — Editor.) 

Honey, Purity of. — Q. Some dealers tell me that I have been 
feeding my bees sugar syrup. Others ask me if it is machine- 
made. I would like to be able to prove that my nice, white comb 
honey is pure honey, produced by the bees, but as I am not very 
well posted on honey yet, I do not know just what to say. I have 
heard it said that somebody, somewhere, offered $1,000 for a 
pound of machine-made honey. Who was this man, and is the 
offer still good, and has he got the $1,000 yet? The trouble is 
that many persons believe that clean, white combs without stains 
are machine-made; that pure amber honey is colored, and if it is 
clear and white it must be nothing but sugar and water. 

A. An argument that I think was first advanced by C. P. 
Dadant ought to be enough to convince anyone with sufficient 
reason that section honey is not machine made. Take any two 
sections of honey and place them side by side. If machine made 
they would be exactly alike; whereas there will be no difficulty in 
pointing out differences that will knock out all idea that they are 
made in the same mold, and establish clearly that each section is 
an individual job, worked out by the bees. Pop-holes in one will 
be clearly different from those in another, and variations of cells 
will be evident. You may also show a section just as it is when 
you give it to the bees, and that will be convincing to most men 
that the bees do the rest. 

The offer of $1,000 for a section of honey made without the aid 
of bees was first made by the A. I. Root Company, and is still 
good-, with many thousands of dollars back of it. No one has yet 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 127 

captured the reward. The same offer has also been made by the 
National Beekeepers' Association. 

Honey, Ripe. — Q. When honey is sealed and capped Over by 
the bees, is it ripe and ready to take off, if not, how is one to 
know? 

A. As a rule, when honey is sealed it is ripe, and it isn't ripe 
until it is sealed. That's the rule, and if you follow it in taking 
off honey all the mistakes you make will never send you to the 
penitentiary. As with most rules, there are exceptions. The bees 
may seal up honey before it is ripe, and they may leave it un- 
sealed after it is ripe. You can tell by seeing whether the honey 
is thick or thin. If it's .thick, call it ripe. But the exceptions are 
so few that in actual practice I never paid any attention to them, 
merely counting all honey ready to take off if sealed. 

Honey, Soil Affecting Yield. — Q. Why is it that some plants 
produce honey in some places and don't in others? Cotton, for 
instance, yields heavily in both north and south Georgia, but does 
not yield honey, or the bees do not get it, just a little north of 
the center of the state, among the red hills. 

A. I don't know; only I know it is so. The soil or the eleva- 
tion may have something to do with it. 

Honey, Sour. — Q. (a) Will honey extracted from comb freshly 
built and not capped over sour if placed in a can? If so, how 
would you prevent this? 

(b) Will comb and extracted honey put in regular honey 
buckets sour if kept any length of time? 

A. (a) Maybe, and maybe not. Sometimes honey is sealed 
before it is ripened, but generally not. The remedy is to wait 
until the honey is sealed before extracting. Even if it never 
soured, it will be money in your pocket in the long run if you 
never put anything on the market but the very best ripened 
article. 

(b) Either kind may be kept for years without souring if well 
ripened by the. bees and then kept in a dry place where.it will not 
attract moisture. Keep it in a place where salt will keep dry. If 
salt gets moist in a certain place so will honey, unless it be ex- 
tracted honey tightly sealed. 

Q. What makes honey sour in the hive when the flow is at 
its best and no honeydew? This season I ran my bees for comb 
honey; in some of the hives honey soured before it was capped. 

A. I don't know. I know it sometimes occurs, and I sup- 
pose it is something in the character of the honey itself. 



128 dr. miller's 

Q. Is it safe and right to feed bees honey that has soured? 

A. Yes, if fed in the spring at a time when bees are flying 
daily, and at a time when there is no danger of its going into 
surplus. They will use it for breeding. 

Honey, Thinning. — Q. How do you thin down honey to feed 
bees? If I mix it with water it sours. 

A. Merely stir the honey and water together — all the better if 
the water is hot. It will not sour if fed within a day or so, and it 
ought not to be allowed to stand longer. 

Honey, Unripe. — Q. What is "green" or "unripe" honey? Is 
not honey good to eat as soon as it is capped over? 

A. Green or unripe honey is that which has not been in the 
hive long enough to become sufficiently evaporated. Generally it 
is sufficiently ripened when sealed, but there are exceptions. 
Fortunately, the exceptions are rare. 

Honey-Board. — Q. How is a honey-board made? Is it just a 
board with a bee-escape in the underside? Would it pay to use 
these for extracting honey; put them on in the afternoon before 
you expect to extract and then just take off the supers and frames 
together, and wheel them into the house? 

A. Honey-boards were in use long before bee-escapes were 
heard of. A honey-board was one placed over the top-bars, with 
a beespace between, there being in the board holes or slots, over 
which were placed surplus-boxes. Latterly a board with an escape 
in it is sometimes called a honey-board, but it is better to simply 
call it a bee-escape. Opinions are divided as to using bee-escapes 
in the way you mention, some highly approving them and others 
not believing them worth while. I suspect that bee-escapes work 
better for some than for others, either because of the difference 
in bees or for some other reason. 

Honey Comb (See Combs.) 

Honeydew. — Q. How can one tell when there is honeydew? 

A. I don't believe I can tell you in words how you can decide 
as to honeydew. I couldn't tell in words just how an orange 
tastes. The dark color of honeydew and peculiar taste help to 
decide, but I can't tell what that taste is. If you know the bees 
are working on some tree where there are no flowers, you may be 
suspicious. 

Q. Does honeydew ever appear before July 1st? 

A. Yes, it does, sometimes. 

Q. Does honeydew come any time of the year? My bees 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 129 

seemed to be storing something in the warm days of February, 
before there was any blossoms of any kind. (Georgia.) 

A. Honeydew may come almost any time plants are growing; 
but I supect your bees are working on something else than honey- 
dew in February. 

Q. Will bees work on honeydew during a flow from clover or 
basswood? 

A. Not to any great extent. They prefer the better article 
of food. 

Q. The grading rules of Colorado class honey contaminated 
by honeydew as not permitted in shipping grades. How is honey- 
dew detected in the comb? 

A. I'm not sure that Colorado officials have any particular 
rule as to how it is to be detected, but a good guess can be made 
by both looks and smell while in the comb, and if necessary it 
can be sampled by taste. It generally has a cloudy, dark look 
that honey does not have, and its smell is peculiar. Even if a 
certain sample of honey could not be positively identified as 
honeydew, if it were so much like it as to make it difficult to de- 
cide, I suppose it would be ruled out. 

Q. My bees are working on honeydew, the trees just glistening 
with it; the leaves look as if they were varnished, and in the 
morning when the dew is on the bees work "to beat the band." I 
have several hundred pounds of it in the supers. It is bad-looking 
stuff and not fit to eat or sell. What can I do with it? Will it do 
to feed bees? 

A. It will do to feed to the bees in the spring or any time 
when they will use it for brood-rearing; but don't give it to them 
for winter stores. Such honey may be sold for baking or mechan- 
ical purposes or it may be made into vinegar. It is also used by 
manufacturers of chewing tobacco. 

Q. (a) Why is it that in honeydew seasons some colonies 
gather more honeydew than others? Such has been my experi- 
ence. 

(b) Do certain races gather less honeydew than others? I 
have been told so. 

A. (a) Possibly there is a difference in colonies as to their 
preference for different sources. One year I had one or more 
colonies that gathered honey of light color while the rest gath- 
ered buckwheat. It might be that they strongly preferred the 
lighter honey, or it might be that they just happened on the 
lighter honey in some particular place. 

(b) It is possible. 



130 dr. miller's 

Q. Give your opinion as to bees wintering in cellar on honey- 
dew. My bees used up a large portion of this honeydew which 
they gathered earlier in the season in summer breeding, but, 
while they have a good quantity of honey to winter on, much of 
it seems to be dark and of a strong, almost sourish taste. 

A. A small amount of honeydew in winter stores seems to do 
little or no harm, but in large quantities it is likely to do much 
harm. Of course, there is a difference in honeydew in taste, and 
there may be kinds not so bad for wintering as others, but it is 
not safe to count on that. Although the honey crop was a failure, 
it is just possible that you had a pretty fair fall flow, and that as 
the brood-nest became less the vacant cells were filled with honey 
of good quality for wintering. If you had extracted in September, 
or even early in October, and fed sugar syrup, it might have been 
safer. You might, however, lay a cake of candy, say an inch thick, 
over top-bars, if you think you dare not risk what is in the combs, 
as the bees would be likely to use the candy first. 

Honey Locust. — Q. How does the honey locust compare with 
the linden in yielding nectar? 

A. Not nearly so good. But it comes earlier, when it may help 
greatly in brood-rearing. The black locust is better. 

Honey-Plants. — Q. I would be pleased to know if there are 
works on honey-plants. I have a couple of acres to devote 
to artificial pasture just for the honey, if it is probable that suc- 
cess might come of it in any way. 

A. There is probably no work published that treats particu- 
larly of honey-plants, although the text-books on bee-culture give 
some information regarding them. It is not likely that you will 
find any plant that will yield sufficient honey to make it profitable 
for you to occupy land with it unless it yields a profit in some 
other way. Sweet clover will probably come as near it as any- 
thing you can find. If stock in your locality has learned to eat 
sweet clover, either green or dry, it will pay to occupy good land 
with it. 

Horsemint. — Q. I have some horsemint plants on my place. 
Will they yield honey, and if so will this honey hurt the grade of 
my other honey? 

A. Horsemint is not usually abundant enough in the northern 
sections of the United States to produce surplus quantities suf- 
ficient to make the taste noticeable. However, in Texas, horse- 
mint honey is a regular crop. I should say that if you had horse- 
mint in sufficient quantities it would probably give a mint flavor 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 131 

to your other honey. It yields about the same time as white 
clover. 

Houses, Getting Bees From. (See Buildings.) 

Hybrids. — Q. Is the hybrid of yellow color? 

A. When the word "hybrid" is used concerning bees, it gen- 
erally means a cross between blacks and Italians, and such hy- 
brids may have one, two, or even three yellow bands similar to 
the yellow bands of Italians, but if only part of the workers have 
the three bands, then the colony is considered hybrid. I suppose 
the word "hybrid" might also apply to a cross between Italians 
and Carniolans, or between any two different varieties. 

Q. Are hybrids as good for honey-gathering as full-bloods? 

A. Very often they are. 

Q. Are hybrid bees as good as pure stock? 

A. Sometimes they are better, and sometimes not so good. 
But even if better, they are more likely to run out than pure 
stock. 

Hydrometer. — Q. On page 5 of the American Bee Journal for 
1908, in an article on "Testing Honey as to Ripeness," it is said, 
"it would be a good thing" to "get a hydrometer." What is a 
hydrometer, and, especially, how is it used? Of course, I under- 
stand a "hydrometer" must be an instrument to measure moisture. 
Still, I repeat the question, what is it and how is it used? 

A. A hydrometer is an instrument for determining the density 
of liquids, consisting of a weighted glass bulb with a long stem 
on which there is a graduated scale. It is put in the liquid, where 
it stands upright, the denser the liquid the higher it stands, the 
figures on the scale thus showing the density. If an up-to-date 
dairyman is near you, he may have a hydrometer, which he calls a 
lactometer. 

Ice. — Q. If small particles of ice form on the hive-entrance of 
a colony that is wintering on the summer stand, is it an indica- 
tion that it is not in a good condition for winter? 

A. No, there is nothing alarming about it any more than there 
is in seeing a man's breath form in icicles on his beard when he is 
out in freezing weather. 

Inbreeding. — Q. What do you call inbreeding? Give a practi- 
cal illustration. 

A. "Inbreed," says the dictionary, means "to breed or to follow 
a course of breeding, from nearly related animals, as those of 
the same parentage or pedigree; breed in-and-in." It would be in- 



132 dr. miller's 

breeding to have a young queen meet a drone from the same hive, 
or even with the relation less close. 

Q. Does the honeybee degenerate through inbreeding? If so, 
what is the result? 

A. Indiscriminate inbreeding among bees, as with all other 
animals, is likely to result in deterioration, the bad qualities be- 
coming intensified. With intelligent control the result may be 
the other way. 

Income From Bees (See Living From Bees.) 

Increase. — Q. I am 21 years old, and I own four colonies of 
bees. I am as interested in the bee-business as I think any person 
can be. I have read all the bee literature I could for three years. 
At present I am taking four bee-papers. Would you advise me 
to buy more bees, or to wait until those I have increase? 

A. That depends. If you want to increase to a considerably 
larger number and have an opportunity of buying a few colonies 
at a bargain, as sometimes happens at an auction, or when one 
wants to get rid of his bees, it will be well for you to buy. But 
if you can't buy for less than $5.00 a colony, then it will be more 
profitable for you to run your bees for increase than for honey. 
Only don't make the mistake of having a number of weak colonies 
on hand in the fall. It would, no doubt, be an easy thing to in- 
crease those four colonies to twenty or more by fall, and then lose 
most of them in the winter because too weak; but in the long run 
you will get on faster to move a little more slowly and surely. 
Of course, something depends upon the season. In a very poor 
season it may not be safe to increase at all, unless you do a good 
deal of feeding. But if you reach next fall with ten or twelve 
strong colonies, another good season ought to bring you up to 
forty or so. 

Q. Can you make a 20 per cent increase by going through the 
apiary and making a colony at different times without hurting the 
honey-flow? 

A. I think it might be done without diminishing the crop, 
at least in some cases. Just enough strength taken from each 
colony to prevent swarming might increase rather than diminish 
the total harvest. 

Q. Can I take a colony and make four or five out of it and put 
a new queen in each? If so, how? 

A. You may do it in a good season. One way is to wait until 
the colony is strong, then take a little more than half the brood 
and bees and put in a new hive on a new stand, giving a new 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 133 

queen and leaving the old queen on the old stand. When each of 
these becomes strong, divide again the same way. 

Q. As I am only 25 miles from you, please recommend the best 
method to increase and still get a crop of honey, for our locality. 
I have your book "Fifty Years Among the Bees." 

A. There are so many different circumstances and conditions 
that it is not easy to say what system is best. What is best one 
time may not be best another. In the book you mention the mat- 
ter of increase is discussed as fully, at least, as in any book I 
know of. After a careful study of what you find there, you will 
be able to decide for yourself better than I could decide for you. 
If, however, I were obliged to confine myself to any one plan, 
with the idea of interfering little with the honey crop, I think it 
would be the nucleus plan. With that you can make much or 
little increase, and you need not draw from one colony enough to 
hinder it from doing fair work in supers. But if. by "still get a 
crop of honey" you mean to get as much as if you got no in- 
crease, I don't believe you can make it in your location. That 
only happens where there is an important fall flow. 

Q. Is the Swarthmore method, i. e., shaking the bees on full 
sheets of foundation and then giving them a laying queen, better 
than the Alexander method of increase, as in "A, B, C of Bee Cul- 
ture?" 

A. Likely the Alexander plan may be better for you, as it al- 
lows little or no chance for brood to be chilled. But if you expect 
to double your crop of honey, as Mr. Alexander says you may, by 
dividing, you are likely to be seriously disappointed unless you 
have a heavy late flow, as Mr. Alexander had from the buckwheat. 

Increase, Alexander Plan. — Q. What is the best way to double 
any number of colonies? 

A. Something depends upon circumstances what is the best 
way. If you have had very little experience it may be best for 
you to depend upon natural swarming, but allowing no after- 
swarms. When a colony swarms, set the swarm on the old stand 
and set the old hive close beside the new one. Then a week later 
move the old one to a new place ten feet or more distant. That 
will prevent afterswarms, and the swarms will give you surplus 
if there is any surplus. 

If you prefer not to have natural swarming the Alexander plan 
of increase may suit you. A little before it is time for bees to 
swarm in your neighborhood, lift out of the hive all but one 



134 dr. miller's 

frame and put them in an empty hive-body. Leave the queen 
with the one frame of brood, and destroy any queen-cells that 
may be on that frame. Fill out both hives with frames filled with 
foundation, or with starters or drawn comb. Put a queen- 
excluder over the hive containing the queen and one brood- 
frame, and set the other hive on top of this. Five days later look 
for queen-cells in the upper stories. If you find queen-cells in an 
upper story, let it stand another five days, and then set it on its 
new stand, giving it a queen-cell from one of the others. It will 
hurry up matters if you can give a laying queen to each. 

Q. When taking the top story off, how many bees should go 
with it? 

A. I think Mr. Alexander took all that were in it. 

Q. Do you consider the above method better than allowing 
natural swarming with clipped queen, or dividing by forming 
nuclei? 

A. No, not for me, and probably not for one in a thousand in 
the North. 

Q. I have three colonies and should like to increase and also 
try Caucasians. Could I take one or two frames from each 
colony, unite them and then introduce a Caucasian queen? Will 
it prevent the mother colonies from swarming? Can you suggest 
a better plan if mine isn't practicable? 

A. Yes, your plan is feasible. But taking away only one or 
two frames of brood from each colony is not likely to prevent 
swarming, although it will delay, and in a few cases prevent it. 
To fulfill your desire you will do well to follow what is called the 
Alexander plan, varied a little. Wait until the time comes when 
there is danger of swarming. Then put all brood but one frame 
in a second story, leaving in the lower story the one brood and 
queen, filling out with drawn combs or frames filled with founda- 
tion, and pay no attention to where the bees are. Put a frame of 
comb or foundation in the second story to fill out the vacancy. 
Have a queen-excluder between the first and second story. A 
week or ten days later lift off the second story and set it on a new 
stand, destroying all queen-cells, if there are any. Twenty-four 
hours later give to this new colony a laying queen, a virgin, or a 
queen-cell. 

Q. I have two strong colonies of bees; in each hive the brood- 
chamber is a double 10-frame brood-chamber, making 20 frames 
to each. 

Now, I wish to know what is the best way to make "increase" 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 135 

of my bees. I would like to avoid the troubles of the usual swarm- 
ing, and yet increase my stock. 

A. Here is one good way: Operate a little before the usual 
time of swarming in your neighborhood; or, if you wish to take 
a little more pains, operate after queen-cells are started, but be- 
fore they are sealed, for with the first sealing a swarm is likely to 
issue. Set one of the stories on a new stand, putting in it all the 
frames of brood with adhering bees and leave the rest of the 
combs and bees with the old queen on the old stand. The hive on 
the old stand ought to give a good surplus in a good year. There 
is, however, some danger of a swarm as soon as the first young 
queen emerges. You can prevent this by destroying all queen- 
cells but one. Or, you may prevent it by dividing the brood into 
two parts, providing you want the increase. 

It may be still better first to put all the brood in the upper 
story, with an excluder between the two stories, and the queen in 
the lower story. Then, a week later, move the upper story to a 
new stand. In this case there ought to be no danger of swarming. 

Q. Referring to the Alexander method of preparing colo- 
nies for division, by placing the older brood above an excluder 
until sealed, and the queen with open brood below upon the bot- 
tom; I would like to divide as early as there is sufficient brood, 
and, for that reason would like to know if the process might not 
successfully be reversed, the queen being placed above the ex- 
cluder, and the brood for sealing below, and thus avoid desertion 
of the queen by reason of unexpected cold, which has been re- 
ported by one observer. 

A. Yes, the queen may be put above the excluder, leaving 
the brood below, although you will probably not like it quite so 
well, for the natural thing is for bees to work downward, with the 
brood. 

Increase, Artificial, by Division. — Q. I have 28 strong colonies 
and want to increase to 50 if possible this season, and would like 
to do it artificially, as I think it will save a lot of time. This is 
my second season with bees. How shall I proceed? Would it do 
to divide the bees just before they are ready to swarm, and is 
it best to put frames of foundation in the old colony where I 
take out the frames of brood? 

A. Yes, one of the simplest ways is to divide each colony into 
two parts before the bees swarm. Leave the old queen on the 
old stand and put more than .half of the brood with adhering 
bees on a new stand and they will rear a queen. Fill vacancies 
with frames having full sheets of foundation. 

But that's far from the best way. Just what the best way is, 



136 dr. miller's 

depends upon circumstances, and it would take much room to go 
fully into the whole subject of artificial increase. Study up gen- 
eral principles in your text-book, and you will be better prepared 
to judge what is best for you. 

Q. Which is the better, natural swarming, or dividing? 

A. Whether the swarm made by dividing is as good as a 
natural swarm depends upon how the natural swarm is made. It 
may be made weaker than a natural swarm, and it may be made 
stronger. There are, however, advantages in dividing such that 
experienced beekeepers generally prefer it to natural swarming. 

Q. How late would it be safe to divide, and also to buy a 
queen? Our seasons are long here. The 10th of October is a 
very early frost. Cotton blooms till frost. (Oklahoma.) 

A. I don't know just how late it might be safe to divide. If 
the flow continues until October 10, and a laying queen is fur- 
nished, you might risk a division as late as September 1 to 10, pro- 
viding the colony be strong, with plenty of brood. 

Q. How many days after the swarm issues should I divide? 
A. About seven or eight days. 

Q. When is the best time to make new swarms? I worked 
with a beeman one summer before I bought my bees. He made 
his new swarms when he was extracting. But I think it disturbs 
the bees so much when they are working hard, and it looks to 
me like they will not store as much honey if torn apart at this 
time. 

A. There is no fixed rule about it. One would think it best to 
follow nature and make increase at the time bees swarm naturally. 
But nearly everyone agrees nowadays that natural swarming is 
decidedly detrimental to the honey crop. In my locality it seems 
much better to have no increase until at or near the close of the 
harvest. In some localities, where there is a heavy late flow, it 
may be better to divide early in the season. 

Q. When is the proper time to start new colonies of bees in 
this climate — 40 miles south of St. Louis? What is the best 
method for a beginner to take in doing so? 

A. The very best time is when the bees are inclined to swarm 
naturally. Bees begin to swarm when honey begins to yield well, 
and more or less colonies may sw.arm so long as honey yields, al- 
though most colonies do their swarming during the early part of 
the honey-flow. You may even make increase successfully in the 
month of September if you make the new colony strong enough. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 137 

The earlier you start a colony the less need of its being strong, 
as it has a longer time to build up before winter. 

It is not easy to say what may be the best way for you. What 
may be best for one may not be the best for another. Perhaps 
the easiest way is to take half the combs, bees and all, out of a 
hive and put into another hive, filling out each hive with combs 
or frames filled with foundation, setting the hives side by side, 
as nearly as possible on the old location, trusting to the queen- 
less part to rear its own queen. 

A better way is to look four days later and see which hive 
contains eggs, and give a laying queen to the other part. That, 
of course, involves buying and introducing a queen. 

If you want the bees to rear their own queen, here is a better 
plan : Find the queen and put her with two frames and all ad- 
hering bees into another hive on a new stand. A week later a 
number of queen-cells will be in the now queenless colony, when 
you let the hives exchange places, and the bees will do the rest. 
If you want to have more than one new colony, you can divide 
the queenless part, putting the larger half on an entirely new 
stand. 

Increase, Artificial, Nucleus Plan. — Q. Give me a good way 
for artificial increase. 

A. Take from the strong colony two frames of brood with 
adhering bees and queen, put on a new stand and imprison them 
for three days. A week after the queen is taken away, let the 
two hives swap places. That will double the number. If you want 
to make more out of that one colony, you can divide the old 
colony into two or more nuclei at the time of swapping places, 
being sure that each has a good queen-cell located centrally 
where the bees will keep it warm, and then if necessary you can 
strengthen these nuclei after the queens get to laying by giving 
them brood from other colonies. 

Q. I have a colony of Italian bees from which I intend to 
make increase. If I make nuclei from it, will it be safe to give 
frames of brood with adhering bees from other colonies? Or is 
there danger that the bees will kill the queen or destroy the 
queen-cells? If this is not safe, how fast can frames of brood 
without bees be given? I understand if too much brood is given 
at once some will starve. 

A. It requires judgment in giving frames of brood with ad- 
hering bees, as it depends upon the strength of the nucleus how 
much can be given at a time. You evidently have in mind two 



138 dr. miller's 

dangers. One is that the strange bees introduced will kill the 
queen (there is not very much danger that they will harm the 
queen-cells) ; and the other is that the brood will be chilled or 
starved. Generally more danger of chilling than starving. 

Unless a nucleus has bees enough to cover three frames, it is 
better not to introduce a frame of brood with adhering bees, lest 
the queen be endangered. With regard to brood, there is little 
danger of harm being done if bees enough go with it to cover an 
additional frame. 

In any case, the more mature the brood the better, and if the 
brood is all sealed you may give a frame without any adhering 
bees, and it will be safe in a nucleus of two or three frames, even 
if there appear to be only enough bees present to cover well the 
two or three frames already present. One reason for this is in the 
fact that it does not require so much heat for sealed as for un- 
sealed brood. As soon as most of the young bees have emerged 
from the frames given, it can be exchanged for another, and this 
will generally allow you to add a frame each week. 

A nice way to do to have frames of brood ready to give to 
nuclei is to put an excluder over a strong colony with an empty 
hive-body over it, and put into this frames of brood from other 
colonies ; then, a week or ten days later, there being no young 
brood present, the frames will be fine for nuclei, whether you take 
with them the adhering bees or not. 

Q. Being anxious to increase as fast as possible, I would like 
to have your opinion about it. I read one article by W. Z. 
Hutchinson, saying that he made his increase by taking two or 
three frames of brood from strong colonies and giving them a 
laying queen ; but not being able to buy my queens, would it do to 
take a queen from one colony and let the bees rear a new queen? 
Please give me some of your best plans. 

A. It is not easy to say what may be the best plan for you. 
What is best for one is not always best for another. But taking 
the plan you mention, you can do very well with a little variation. 
Decide which colony you think has the queen of best blood, and 
see that it is strong, if necessary giving it frames of hatching- 
brood from other colonies to strengthen it. You may even fill 
two stories with brood. Call this hive A. When the time comes 
for bees to begin making preparations for swarming, take the 
queen with 2 or 3 frames of brood and adhering bees, and put 
them in hive B, on a stand a rod or more distant. About eight or 
ten days after taking the queen away from A — don't delay longer 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 139 

than ten days — take out one of the frames with the queen from B, 
put it in an empty hive, C, and fill out C with empty combs or 
frames filled with foundation-starters. Take hive A from its 
stand and set hive C in its place. You will now make as many 
nuclei as you can from the brood and bees in A, taking two 
frames of brood and bees for each nucleus, putting each on a new 
stand. It may happen that without any intention on your part 
there will be one or more good queen-cells on one of the combs 
in each nucleus. It may be, however, that most of the queen-cells 
are on one or two combs, and you must cut out at least one good 
cell for each nucleus. You can fasten it on the comb by pushing 
over it a hive-staple. See that it is centrally located where the 
bees will be sure to keep it warm. A cell must also be given to B, 
and it will be well that this be given in a cage so that the bees 
cannot get at it for a day or two, lest they destroy it before they 
discover their queenlessness. The bees of the nuclei being queen- 
less, will remain pretty well where put, but you might fasten them 
ii> for a day or two. 

Increase, Natural. — Q. I have 25 colonies of bees and want to 
increase to 50 next year and secure as much surplus honey as 
possible. How would you do this? We have plenty of white 
clover that begins blooming May 1, and blooms two months. 

A. There is, perhaps, no better way than to let each colony 
swarm once, moving the parent colony to a new location and 
hiving the swarm on the old stand. That will give a strong force 
to the swarm, which will do the principal storing, although the 
mother colony may store some if there is a late flow. 

Increase With Queen-Cells. — Q. Is it safe to form a colony by 
taking frames of sealed brood and queen-cells instead of queen? 

A. Very unsafe if no precaution whatever is used. For when 
you look a day or two later you are likely to find the bees mostly 
gone and the brood chilled. After putting the two frames with 
adhering bees in your nucleus hive, shake into it the bees from 
one or two more frames. Then see that your hive is closed bee- 
tight, so that not a bee can get out, for two or three days. It's 
not a bad plan to stuff grass or green leaves into the entrance, 
plugging it tight and hard. The green stuff will dry and shrink, 
and in two or three days the bees will dig their way out. 

(If the weather is very hot, better keep this hive in the cellar 
during that time, as they might smother in the hive under the 
sun.— C. P. D.) 



140 dr. miller's 

Increase, Prevention of, (See Swarm Prevention.) 

Introducing (See Queen Introduction.) 

Italian Bees. — Q. Has Italy two kinds of Italian bees, the 
leather-colored and the golden ; or are the goldens bred in this 
country by select leather-colored stock? 

A. In Italy there are the leather-colored and also a lighter 
kind, but I think no 5-banded or golden, which is an American 
affair, not at all always from the leather-colored kind. 

Q. How can I tell a pure-bred Italian queen? I notice all the 
queens I buy, and also the drones, vary in markings. 

A. The workers should not show less than three yellow bands. 
But you may find in a colony of pure Italians, black workers that 
have come from other hives. Look for the downy little chaps 
that are quite young; amongst them there should be none without 
three bands. 

Q. Are Italians the only bees having three yellow rings on the 
abdomen? Should the rings be wide or narrow? 

A. There are others having three such rings, as the Cyprians. 
It doesn't matter about width of rings, the distance of one ring 
from another being the same in all cases. 

Q. Please distinguish between leather-colored Italians and 
other Italians. 

A. Leather-colored Italians are, as the name indicates, rather 
dark in color, the colored part being the color of sole-leather, as 
compared with other Italians of lighter color. 

Q. I would be glad to know what the difference is between 
the 3-banded and the golden Italian bees, and how are they ob- 
tained? 

Also, are the 3-banded bees longer-tongued than the golden? 
I had goldens that worked on red clover, but I see they are 
always classed differently. 

A. The workers of bees imported from Italy have three yellow 
bands. Those that are called golden are obtained by breeding 
continuously from the yellow races, constantly selecting those 
showing most color. They are an American product. 

There is probably no difference as to length of tongue between 
the two classes. When bees work on red clover it may be because 
of longer tongues, and it may be because of shorter corollas in 
the blossoms. I have seen black bees working on red clover. 

Q. Which stock is best to order, the 3-band or 5-band? 

A. Some prefer those with more than three bands, but most 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 141 

prefer those which have three bands, like the pure stock that 
comes from Italy. 

Q. Are the 5-band, or golden, any better than, or as good as, 
the 3-band leather-colored Italian queens? 

A. There are goldens and goldens. Some are good, and some 
are poor, according to all accounts; while the 3-banders, as im- 
ported from Italy, are more uniform and of a more fixed type. 

The beginner is generally puzzled to know whether to choose 
goldens, bright 3-banded, or leather-colored. Let it be distinctly 
understood that all goldens are not exactly alike, neither are all 
leather-colored. The three kinds mentioned are all Italians, and 
they all vary. So a man may have a colony of goldens and a 
colony of leather-colored, and the goldens are the better of the 
two, while another may find that his own goldens are not so good 
as his leather-colored. The matter of looks has no small bearing, 
and breeders find that, other things being equal, the brighter the 
color, the better the customers will be pleased. Yet a large pro- 
portion of experienced producers of honey seem to prefer the 
leather-colored, with the belief that in general these rank as the 
better honey-gatherers. 

Q. Are the goldens generally recognized as the worst robbers 
of all bee-kind? The ones I have certainly must be; however, 
with the miserable slow flow we are having, they are certainly 
getting much more honey than are my blacks. 

A. I don't remember to have heard that charge against the 
goldens. I am afraid it's true very often that the best gatherers 
are inclined to be bad as robbers. Bees have no moral sense, and 
don't make any distinction between getting stores from the field 
or from another hive; so why shouldn't the best gatherers be the 
best — or the worst — robbers? 

Q. Do you find the yellow Italians more vicious than those of 
a darker color? 

A. They vary; some are vicious, and some gentle. 

Italianizing. — Q. What is the best time of the year to Italian- 
ize? 

A. Other things being equal, there is no better time than to- 
ward the close of harvest, but if I had poor bees I wouldn't want 
to wait till then to get better stock. 

Q. I have a few colonies of black bees that seem to be weak, 
though they are beginning to carry pollen. Would it not be 
better to wait until later in the season before I attempt to intro- 
duce Italian queens. Should I not catch the old queen and destroy 



142 dr. miller's 

her before I send for the new one? I have heard there is less 
danger of having the queen killed when she is introduced if the 
colony has been without a queen for some time. Should the 
queen be clipped before she is introduced? 

A. You will probably do as well to wait until some time in 
June. Better not kill the old queen till the new one arrives. 
There may be considerable delay, and it is not well for the colony 
to be too long queenless. You can have the same, or greater, ad- 
vantage by keeping the new queen caged in the hive two or three 
days before allowing the bees of the colony access to the candy to 
liberate her. Most beekeepers nowadays prefer to have queens 
clipped, and most of those who sell queens will clip them before 
sending, without extra charge, if you so request. 

Jouncer. — Q. What is a jouncer? 

A. A frame-work upon which a super rests, allowing the bees 
to be shaken out of the super by jouncing the ends of the jouncer 
up and down alternately. It has not proven a success with 
everyone. 

Krainer Bees. — Q. Have the Krainer bees from Krain, Austria, 
ever been imported to this country? Are they more hardy than 
Italians? 

A. You have probably heard and read quite a little about 
Carniolian bees. Well, Krain is merely the German word for Car- 
niola. I'm not sure whether the claim for greater hardiness has 
been well established, but some think well of a cross with Italians. 

Labels. — Q. How do you stick labels on tin cans? I don't 
seem able to make them stick. 

A. The favorite way is to have the label pass clear around 
the can and overlap, in which case any common flour paste will 
answer. Flour paste with water sticks to tin. Wiping the can off 
with a dry cloth to remove the greasy substance left in tinning 
will help make labels stick. 

Larvae. — Q. Is there any way of determining accurately the 
age of the larva, or, in other words, how long it has been in 
process of development, without waiting for it to be sealed over? 

A. Nothing very definite. In general terms it may be said 
that the larva makes most of its growth in the last two days of 
its five days of larval existence; and I think it doesn't cover the 
bottom of the cell till after it is three days old. 

Q. At what time and in what way are the young bees fed? 

A. They are fed by the nurse-bees for five days or more from 
the time the larva hatches out of the egg until it is sealed over. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 143 

Laws on Beekeeping. — Q. What are the laws governing the 
keeping of bees, disease control, etc.? 

A. Laws concerning bees and diseases are made by each state 
individually. Write to your state bee inspector or state entomolo- 
gist for information. If you do not know who he is, the publishers 
or the bee journals should be able to inform you. 

Laying Workers. — Q. In overhauling a friend's bees today, I 
had a new experience. I found a colony that was queenless (at 
least no queen was noticed), and no brood was found in any of 
the combs, excepting a small quantity of drone-brood sealed up. 
Ninety-six drone-cells, actual count, and one sealed queen-cell; 
no worker-brood at all. The queen-cell was right among the 
sealed drone-cells. 

A. It is not only possible, but probable, that not only a laying 
worker, but a number of them were present, and that the bees at- 
tempted to rear a queen just as you have suggested. 

Q. In appearance are laying workers different from workers? 

A. Not a bit. I suppose I have seen hundreds of them — for 
in every colony with laying workers it isn't a single worker, but 
a whole nest of them at the miserable business — but I never 
could tell which the laying workers were, except one single lay- 
ing worker that I caught in the act of laying. 

Q. Do old bees become drone-layers, or do only the younger 
ones "go astray?" 

A. I have a strong impression it's only the younger ones. 
Some have advanced the theory that laying workers, in their 
larval existence, have been located near queen-cells, and so have 
been fed some of the royal jelly as a sort of overflow. If that 
were the true theory, of course there would be no drone-layers 
except those which started in at the business early in life. But 
I wouldn't take much stock in that theory. Nurse-bees are not 
so careless as to slop around the soup dishes in that sort of style. 
Besides, if that theory were correct, laying workers would be 
just as likely to appear at all times after young queens are reared, 
whereas we know that with most races of bees no laying workers 
are seen unless a colony has been hopelessly queenless for some 
time. I don't remember that I ever saw any other explanation 
given, but if you can't find anything better I'll offer one of my own 
for what it is worth. It is that when a lot of nurses are loaded 
up with pap, and only a few larvae are left unsealed, those few are 
fed so heavily that they are developed sufficiently to do some- 
thing in the egg-laying line. If any reliance can be put upon this 



144 dr. miller's 

theory it is still true that no bee could start in as a laying worker 
after it becomes old. 

Q. Different writers claim that drone-laying workers are the 
only ones guilty of laying eggs on the sides of a cell. Last fall I 
found a colony with a drone-laying queen of previous year's rear- 
ing, and I found lots of worker-cells with two or three eggs in a 
cell, some at the bottom and others stuck to the sides half way 
down. In such a case, is the colony liable to have laying workers 
acting in conjunction with the drone-laying queen? 

A. I think I never heard of laying workers being present 
with a laying queen, at least for any considerable time. Queens 
sometimes lay eggs on the sides of cells. 

Q. How am I to get rid of a laying worker? 

A. Generally the best thing to do with a colony that has lay- 
ing workers is to break it up, giving the bees to other colonies. 
It is difficult to get the bees to accept a queen. But if the colony 
is strong enough, and you are anxious to have it continue, you 
can give it a virgin just hatched, and this will pretty surely be 
accepted. Or, you may exchange some or all of its combs with ad- 
hering bees for frames of brood and bees from another colony 
or colonies, and the younger bees thus introduced will accept a 
laying queen. 

Q. Did you ever have any experience with laying workers in 
a hive where a young queen has hatched? This is my experi- 
ence: On May 9 I transferred a swarm of bees from a hive 
which I expected to discard on account of its odd size. On May 30 
all the brood was hatched, and on examination I found a queen- 
cell already hatched, and by searching I found the young queen. 
Today I went through the hive to see if the queen was laying, 
and all of the eggs and larvae which I found were in drone-cells 
and the eggs scattered about in worker-cells. I examined closely 
the comb on which I found the most drone-cells, and then and 
there I saw a worker doing her work. What do you think of 
that, with a young queen in the hive, and she a beauty? I closed 
the hive, thinking things might right themselves if left alone, 
but in the afternoon I found the queen on the alighting-board 
dead, with a ball of bees about her. I broke up the colony at once. 
Would you kindly tell me what you think of this case? When I 
say they had a laying worker, I mean to say that I saw her lay 
one of her eggs in a drone-cell. 

A. Your experience is quite exceptional. It is not often that 
a laying worker is caught in the act. In all my experience I never 
saw it, I think, more than once. If your bees are Italians, it is 
remarkable that laying workers should appear when they did, 
although with some of the other races laying workers are in- 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 145 

clined to put in an appearance whenever laying is not normal. 
You speak a little as if there were only one laying worker pres- 
ent. The probability is that there was quite a large number. 

Q. You say a colony of laying workers should be broken up 
and the combs distributed among other colonies, and that the bees 
are old and of little value. In what way would it be doing any 
good to give a good colony one of those combs of worthless bees 
and drone-brood? 

A. While these old bees are of little value, they still have 
some value, and that value may as well be utilized. We are told 
that a worker in the busy season lives to be about six weeks old. 
Now suppose we have some bees that are four or five weeks old. 
They have yet a week or two to live, and they are good as field 
bees for that length of time; so if given to other colonies they 
will finish up their lives in a useful way, doing more good than 
if you try to tinker up the colony with a young queen. To be 
sure, you might give a queen, together with brood, and enough 
young bees to make a fair colony, but these old bees are exceed- 
ingly loth to accept a queen, and you'll be likely to lose her. Bet- 
ter break up the colony, and then start a new one elsewhere. 

Lazy Colonies. — Q. Last season I had lazy colonies that did 
not do anything but rear bees. They were running over with 
bees but did not swarm nor store any surplus honey. Would it 
be best to give them another queen? 

A. It is possible that there may have been some excuse for the 
bees doing nothing, but if other colonies were doing well at the 
same time the likelihood is that the bees were at fault, in which 
case it would be well to give a queen of better stock. They may 
have been late in breeding, owing to spring weakness, and in 
such case the hatched bees, coming too late for the crop, would 
only help consume the honey harvested. 

Q. Do bees "lay off" for a week before swarming and do noth- 
ing but eat honey? 

A. They take no such vacation as you suggest. There may be 
a let-up for some hours, and you may see bees laden with pollen, 
among the swarming bees. 

Q. Is there any way to get backward bees to work in the 
super besides baiting them, and then maybe wait until they are 
forced to? That was always my luck. 

A. Yes, get them so strong early that they'll be glad to rush 
into the sections without any bait; only they will enter the su- 
pers sooner with baits. If you mean a way to make a weak 



146 dr. miller's 

colony start work in a section that will not begin on a bait, there 
is no such way. You may force them to go into the super by put- 
ting some brood in it, but that will not force them to store there 
if there is plenty of room to store in the brood-chamber. 

Legs of Bees. — Q. I think I have something new this season. 
My bees have great long thongs dangling about their feet, and 
when they alight these thongs lie on. the alightingrboard to one 
side of the bees' feet. They are about one-eighth of an inch long, 
and just as red as can be. What are those false thongs on my 
bees' feet? Are they natural or not? 

A. I think what you call "false thongs" must be the pollen 
masses from milkweed. In some cases it gets so bad that the bees 
can hardly climb upon the combs, and I have seen the other bees 
drive them out of the hive. Sometimes the bees are fastened upon 
the blossoms, not being able to tear away, and if you examine the 
milkweed blossoms in your vicinity you may find some dead bees 
upon them. But these plants are good honey-plants, and perhaps 
in this way pay for the injury done to the bees. 

Leaves for Cushions. — Q. Are dry forest leaves as good as 
anything for the absorbent cushion? 

A. Nothing could be much better, unless it be cork chips. 

Lemon Juice. — Q. One man says to put lemon juice in sugar 
syrup and it is as good as honey for the bees. What do you think 
of it? 

A. It would be better without the lemon juice,, unless it be 
just enough to keep the syrup from granulating. 

Lettering in Comb Honey. — Q. How is the lettering or spelling 
in raised letters on comb honey done? Please explain. 

A. I know little about it practically. Usually this is done by 
inserting in the section or comb the letters in wood, then place 
these over a very strong colony to draw out and seal. 

Lice. — Q. There is a spider-like insect that clings to the backs 
of my bees, in some cases covering the fore part of queens all 
over; of a reddish color, about the size of a pinhead. Is this the 
Italian bee-louse? It makes no difference whether the colony is 
strong or weak. Is there any way of getting rid of these? The 
temperature gets very high here in summer. Would the heat 
breed these things? (British Columbia.) 

A. Yes, it may be braula coeca, or the blind louse, although 
I don't remember to have heard of such a case this side of the 
ocean. It is said smoking with tobacco will make the louse loose 
its hold. Fortunately, it is not so very dangerous. Please send 
a sample to Dr. E. F. Phillips, Washington, D. C. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 147 

Q. Will hen lice bother bees if one has them in a house apiary 
in the second story of a chicken establishment? 

A I have never heard of bees being bothered by such lice. 

Location. — Q. I would like your advice on choosing a location, 
as I am just beginning with bees and want to get the right loca- 
tion so that I may make the most honey. Some beekeepers re- 
port large crops. Should I locate in their section? 

A. A young man just making a start, and intending to make 
beekeeping the chief business of his life, will do well to look 
about and choose a location specially suited to that business. For 
that matter, so might one already engaged in the business. But 
he would be unwise, especially if already well established, to go 
some distance to a new place, knowing nothing about it, but 
that some one had secured a very large yield of honey. Possibly 
that one year of great flow may be offset by two of failure. Pos- 
sibly the distance or inconvenience of access to a market may be 
so great as to counterbalance the greatness of the yield. 

Then there are considerations outside of beekeeping not 
lightly to be ignored. Climate, home and surrounding, are all of 
importance. Some of the northern beekeepers in attendance at 
the National meeting in Los Angeles some years ago, who had 
cast longing looks towards that golden land, went home entirely 
satisfied to remain where they were, after seeing some of the 
California apiaries. Of course, all locations in California are not 
the same, but some of them are dreary enough. To get the ad- 
vantage of pasturage, an apiary is located in some canyon, away 
from the haunts of man, the nearest neighbor a mile or more 
away, outside of the sound of bell of church or school. With 
many it is a life of exile during the honey season, the rest of the 
year being passed elsewhere. But all would not like that sort of 
life. 

On the whole, taking into account the ties of friendship, and 
old associations, as well as the trouble and expense of making a 
change, the probability is that not one beekeeper in ten will find 
himself better off anywhere in the world than right where he is 
now. 

Q. If you were to start again from the beginning, intending to 
make beekeeping your life calling, and had no ties to bind you to 
any particular locality, where would you be likely to settle? 

A. I would do a lot of investigating before settling. What 
might suit me might not suit you. I'm growing more and more to 
think that there's a good deal of equality in locations, advantages 



148 dr. miller's 

and disadvantages. I used to envy Californians. I'm not sure I 
would care to be there now, since knowing more fully about it. 
In general, the place where one happens to be is "not so worse" 
as it might be. 

Q. How far from the public highway does the law require an 
apiary to be to insure one from all damages? 

A. That depends altogether upon the local or state laws. 
Generally, I think, there is no law about it, but if you are wise 
you will not risk having your bees close enough to the highway to 
endanger anyone passing by. If your bees are very gentle it may 
be safe to have them close to the roadside. Some bees are not 
safe ten rods away. 

Q. As I want to move my bees this spring, would two feet 
apart be too close for each hive? 

A. That depends. If there are plenty of trees or other objects 
to help mark their locations it will be all right. If the ground is 
perfectly level, and nothing to help locate the hives, there will be 
mistakes in entering hives. If you want to save room, instead of 
putting them regularly two feet apart, put the first two close to- 
gether, leave a space of three feet, then two more hives, and so 
on, putting the hives in pairs, with three feet between each two 
pairs. With that arrangement you'll get more bees on the same 
ground, and at the same time there will be less mixing. 

Q. I have seven colonies of bees located in a valley, and a 
neighbor beekeeper has his bees on a high hill, perhaps 175 feet 
higher than mine. He says my bees have the advantage of his, 
as my bees go up hill empty and down hill loaded, while with his 
it is just the other way. 

That is all right and true, as long as my bees go west or north, 
but when they go east they would have to go up first and then 
down on the other side, and I notice that they don't go very far 
that way. Now if I would place my bees on top of this hill I 
think they would go farther south and east than they do now. 
Most of the basswood is on the hillside, but the best clover is in 
the lowlands. Do you think it would pay to move my bees 
higher up for this reason? 

A. It surely must be easier for a bee or anybody else to carry 
a load down hill than up. In actual practice I have some doubt 
whether the difference is enough so that a colony in the lower 
location would show a distinctly larger yield than one higher up. 
But the matter of distance may be a much more important factor. 
Within a distance of perhaps a mile and a half it is doubtful that 
distance counts for much. Beyond that — possibly I should say 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 149 

two miles — distance counts for a good deal, and if your source of 
supply is beyond that there will no doubt be a gain to move 
the bees accordingly. 

Lumber for Hives. — Q. Is there any special lumber which 
should not be used in hives? 

A. Basswood is bad, owing to its tendency to twist and warp. 
White pine is generally used, and also redwood, cypress and 
cedar. 

Maples. — Q. What do you think of a locality from 1,000 to 
2,000 feet above sea level, where there is a large quantity of maple 
sugar produced every year? Would you consider it a good lo- 
cality for beekeeping? 

A. The maple is a valuable honey-tree. It comes early, how- 
ever, and the honey secured from it is mostly used in brood-rear- 
ing. The field-force is not yet strong enough to gather much 
more than will supply the daily needs of the colony. So while it 
is of value in securing a strong force of bees, the question 
whether the locality is a good one depends upon what comes 
later. If there are plenty of later sources the maple will be a 
great help; if nothing comes after, there is little prospect of 
surplus. 

Q. Do bees get much pollen from the "sugar" or hard maple? 
What color is it? 

A. They do in this locality It might be called light yellowish, 
with a tinge of green in it; possibly more green than yellow. 

Q. How would it do to draw sap from maple trees in buckets 
and feed to the bees in early spring to start brood-rearing? 
Would this not be better than sugar syrup? 

A. I don't know that maple-sugar syrup is any better than 
cane-sugar syrup. Likely, however, it is just as good. Care 
should be taken about feeding it when it is not warm enough for 
bees to fly. 

Q. I have some maple sugar that has been damp so it is unfit 
for market. Would this make good food for bees? 

A. It may be profitably fed next spring after bees are flying, 
to be used up in rearing broodT; but don't give it to the bees for 
winter food. 

Martins (See Bee Martins.) 

May Disease. — Q. I have one colony of Italian bees in my yard 
that is dying from some cause. The adult bees are dying by the 
hundreds. They come dragging out of the hive, and sometimes 
crawl part way up the front; others fall off the runboard. They 



150 dr. miller's 

are trembling or jerking and moving their wings. Sometimes they 
just turn around in a very small circle, and sometimes they lie 
on the ground for two days, kicking or moving their legs until 
they finally die. Some have greatly enlarged abdomens, almost 
as large as a young queen, while others look shiny like they had 
just crawled out of grease or syrup. They have considerable 
honey and brood, but do not gain any. 

(a) Do you think this is what they call- May disease? 

(b) What is the cause? 

(c) Is it contagious? 

(d) Do you think it would do any good to requeen? 

(e) What can I do to get rid of this disease? 

A. (a) Your excellent description marks the disease quite 
clearly as the disease called in Europe Mai de Mai, or Maikran- 
heit (May disease), and generally called in this country bee 
paralysis. 

(b) It is believed to be due to a microbe called bacillus gay- 
toni, and also bacillus depilis. 

(c) It is not considered contagious ; yet sometimes affects a 
whole apiary. 

(d) I don't know. Some have claimed that as a cure; others 
say it does no good. 

(e) I don't know. Many cures have been reported successful, 
only to fail when tried further, and as the disease has a way of 
disappearing of its own accord, the supposed cares may have no 
effect. 

O. O. Poppleton sprinkles sulphur on the bees and combs. This 
destroys the sick bees, but it also destroys the unsealed larvae, 
unless the brood be removed. 

Mesquite. — Q. Where is the mesquite found, and what is its 
value? 

A. The mesquite, a low, brushy tree, is found in Texas, New 
Mexico and Arizona. It yields honey best during very dry 
weather. In Texas they have a crop of mesquite honey nearly 
every year. The honey is amber in color. 

Mice. — Q. I bought my partner's share of the bees, and on 
opening the hive I found a mouse-nest in it. I thought that very 
strange, having never heard of it before. Have you any mice in 
your beehives? The colony is a strong one, and I thought the 
bees would keep the mice out. It never destroyed any comb 
while in there. 

A. Yes, indeed; I've had mice in hives, and they have not 
always been as considerate as yours, for they have sometimes 
gnawed the combs. You can keep them out by having the en- 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 15 i 

trance closed with wire-cloth having three meshes to the inch. 
That will bar mice, but allow bees to pass. 

Milkweed. — Q. (a) I enclose what we call milkweed. The bees 
work on it hard. A magnifying glass shows a sticky substance on 
it. Is it a good honey-plant? 

(b) Why do bees stick to it? 

A. (a) Yes, except for the trouble you mention in the next 
question. 

(b) The pollen masses get fastened to their feet and stick so 
tight that the bees pull them from the plant and carry them away. 

(See Legs of Bees.) 

Miller Cage. — Q. Would not a block 1% inches square with a 
J^-inch hole bored in the center answer as well as if I used two 
pieces J4xJ^, a piece of tin and a piece of section each ^-inch 
square? This is for a Miller cage. 

A. It would answer just as well, except that it would take up 
too much room to be put between two combs. 

Moisture in Hive. — Q. I find a dampness against the top of 
the hive, in winter. Should the bees have top ventilation, or will 
the dampness not do any harm? 

A. If there is enough dampness so it will fall in drops on the 
bees it will do harm. Give upward ventilation by placing a 
cushion over the top to keep it warm. Then the dampness will 
not settle on them. 

Q. I am wintering my bees out of doors in the following man- 
ner; take off cover, place a piece of burlap over the frames, 
place empty comb honey super on top of this, fill with chaff, 
put cover on top, raised one-sixteenth of an inch. I do this 
to prevent moisture from collecting inside. This does pre- 
vent it to a great extent, but even with this protection, when 
we had a spell of weather with the thermometer down to zero 
every morning for a week, some frost will collect on the walls 
and outside frames of the hives, and there will be some ice inside 
around the entrance; but the clusters are apparently dry and 
comfortable. Do you think this much moisture will keep the 
bees from wintering perfectly? I have tried packing outside on 
top of the cover. It didn't do much good. 

A. When you go out in very cold weather on a long drive, you 
often find frost and ice collecting on the wrappings about the 
face. That is no proof that you are not wintering all right. Same 
with the bees. They are breathing out moisture all the time, and 
when it's cold enough you will find that moisture condensing into 
frost and ice, even though the bees be wintering all right. 



152 dr. miller's 

Mold in Hives. — Q. What can be done with a colony that has 
moldy combs when the whole entrance is open? I bored two 
holes, one on each side of the back part of the cover, about half 
an inch in diameter, and tacked some screen-wire over the holes, 
then I placed a telescope cover (of my own make) over it, and 
packed around it dry moss. Will it work? The bees are in a 
good shed. They were dying off before I gave them the top ven- 
tilation. Now they seem to be doing fine. 

A. "The proof of the pudding is the eating of it." If your bees 
are doing well since you made the change, that is pretty good 
proof that it is all right. Of course, there must not be too much 
ventilation, lest the bees be too cold, but ventilation in some form 
must be sufficient to prevent dampness and mold. 

Q. What can I do with moldy comb? Is there any special way 
to clean comb in which brood and bees have died? 

A. Nothing is needed to be done with either moldy combs or 
those in which bees have died except to give them in care of the 
bees. They will clean them out in short order. A good way is 
to put a hive full of such combs under the hive of a strong colony. 
Then let the bees take their time to clean them. 

Morning Glory — Q. Does morning glory make nice honey? 
We have hundreds, yes thousands, of acres here, and the bees 
seem to work on it some; also carpet-grass. The honey I have ex- 
tracted is light amber. 

A. I have read that it is of fair quality. 

Moving Bees. — Q. Will it be safe to move a colony now on a 
high stand facing the east to a low stand six feet away and facing 
the southeast? Will many of the bees get lost when they fly out? 

A. Something depends upon the weather. If, after moving, 
the weather is cold enough to confine the bees to the hive for a 
few days, or if the bees have not been flying for a few days — say 
a week or so — there will be little trouble about moving bees any 
distance, great or small. In the particular case you mention there 
will be no trouble, even if the bees are flying every day, provided 
no other colony stands within six feet of where the colony in 
question now stands. Put a slanting board in front of the en- 
trance, so that when they issue they may know that something 
has been changed in their location. They will then examine their 
position more carefully before leaving. 

Q. Can hives be moved from their original place, say 50 or 
100 feet, without confusing the bees? Are there any special rules 
to be observed? 

A. If you move them before they have had a spring flight 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 153 

there will be no trouble. After that there will be lots of trouble, 
as the bees returning from the field will return to the old location. 
One way to help this is to fasten the bees in the hives in the eve- 
ning, or very early in the morning before moving; after moving, 
leave them shut in till the middle of the day; pound on the hive 
until the bees roar, and then let them out, putting in front of 
each entrance a board for them to knock their noses against. 

Q. I shall move my bees about 100 yards this winter, and while 
I know what the bee-books and journals say about it, I would take 
it as a personal favor if you would kindly tell how you would 
manage in moving them. (South Carolina.) 

A. Although you do not say so, I suppose you have in mind 
the question of moving so as to have the least possible loss from 
bees returning to the old location. If I wanted to move my bees 
100 yards, I should wait till winter was nearly over, moving them, 
as nearly as I could guess, just after they had had their longest 
imprisonment during the winter, and I would have little fear that 
any considerable number would return to the old place. The same 
thing might not work as well with you, as in South Carolina I 
should expect shorter periods of confinement and more frequent 
opportunities for flight. I should still work on the same general 
principle, adding some precaution. Clear up things at the old 
place, so that if any bee should try to return it would find nothing 
to look like home. Move the bees in the evening, when all are at 
home, and fasten them in so none can fly out, but not so as to 
smother them. Next day, or the first day it is warm enough for 
them to fly, pound on the hives so as to stir them up thoroughly 
and set them to roaring. Keep them in suspense for some time, 
leaving them thus until perhaps noon, if you think there is no 
danger of smothering, then let them out, and you can expect them 
to mark their location. 

Q. I have six colonies of bees which I keep for pastime anc 
study, as they please me and take up many interesting moments. 
The hives are scattered, and I would like to have them closer to- 
gether. One hive is north of my house, three west of the house, 
about 20 feet from the first; then about 50 feet farther west 
comes another, and then again about 80 feet west is the last one. 
The advice I seek is when and how to get these all to the east of 
the house. I winter them in the cellar. I will greatly appreciate 
your advice. 

A. That's easy. When you put them out in the spring, with- 
out any ceremony, you can put them just where you want them. 
To be sure, some say that bees remember through the winter 



154 . dr. miller's 

where their old stands were, but there cannot be much trouble 
from that, for I have many times put my bees on new stands in 
the spring without trouble. 

Q. As I have to move about three miles March 1st, when do 
you think would be the best time to move my bees? I have them 
in boxes with chaff packed around them. Will the bees get ven- 
tilation enough from the entrance, or had I better put a screen 
over the top of the hive in moving them? 

A. It will not do to disturb the winter packing any sooner 
than is necessary, so you had better not move them till bees are 
flying every few days, possibly in April. If you choose a cool day 
the entrances will probably give ventilation enough, unless it be 
that it is less than the equivalent of 3 or 4 square inches. Of 
course, extra strong colonies may require extra ventilation. 

Q. Next spring I want to move 20 colonies in a wagon. When 
would be the best time to move them, and how would be the best 
way to load? 

A. It doesn't matter such a great deal what time in spring 
you move them. If you move them when it is freezing hard there 
is danger that the combs will break. If you move them after they 
have begun to fly freely you must take the precaution to close the 
hives the evening before, otherwise you will lose some of the 
field bees. 

Put them in the wagon with the frames running crosswise, as 
the greatest shaking is from the wagon swinging from side to 
side. 

Q. I would like to move my 15 colonies about 80 to 100 miles 
from here. I. made arrangements to move them in the spring 
while they would be light and not so crowded, and so that there 
would still be snow up in the hills to take them on the sleigh 
where otherwise the road would be rough. The time to go over 
the snow would take about one day. If I leave the entrance open, 
also the top, and shut up with screen, put the hives on a spring 
wagon and some straw under the hives, would this plan work all 
right? 

A. Your plan ought to work all right. There remains the pos- 
sibility of an unusually warm day occurring during the part of the 
journey when the bees were on the wagon, making the bees very 
uneasy. In that case you would quiet them by sprinkling water 
upon them. 

Q. Can bees be moved in the fall, say the last of September 
or the first of October. I want to move them 75 or 80 miles, either 
by rail or wagon. Can it be done without damage? 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 155 

A. For more than 20 years I have moved bees every fall, and 
never had any trouble. But I moved them only five miles or less. 
In the fall the combs are heavier with honey than in the spring, 
and there are also more bees. So you will see that there must be 
a little more care against breaking combs, as well as a little more 
care to have plenty of ventilation. Aside from this you ought to 
have no more trouble in fall than spring. If you can have your 
choice as to time, it will be well to wait till as much after the 
first of October as you can, for the cooler it is, the less danger of 
suffocation, although, of course, if you wait for severe winter 
weather there would be danger of the combs becoming brittle 
with the cold, and breaking. 

Q. I want to move my bees about 40 miles by waterway to a 
better location, as the bees are mostly wild and dark. Which is 
the best way to close the hive and not smother the bees? 

A. Use wire-cloth for ventilation. To close the entrance of a 
hive, take a piece of wire-cloth as long as the inside width of the 
entrance and 2 or 3 inches wide. Bend it at right angles, and then 
crowd it into the entrance so it will be wedged fast. But that will 
not answer if your entrances are like mine, 2 inches deep. In 
that case take a strip of wire-cloth about 2 inches wider than the 
depth of your entrance, and as long as the inside width of the 
entrance. Double over the edge three-quarters of an inch, or an 
inch, and crease it down flat. Place the wire-cloth against the 
entrance w T ith the folded edge down at the bottom-board, and 
nail over the upper part of the wire-cloth a strip of lath with a 
small nail at each ,end. If the weather is cool, or if the bees be 
moved at night, this ventilation at the entrance may be enough. 
If more is needed, make a frame the same size as the top of the 
hive, cover it with wire-cloth, and fasten it on top of the hive 
with screws. If necessary, the cover can be put about 2 inches 
above this, a block at each corner holding up the cover, being 
fastened with hive-staples. Even this ventilation, if the weather 
b^ hot and the bees kept on the way long, water should be sprayed 
on them from time to time. 

Mustard. — Q. Do you consider mustard a good honey yielder? 
If so, how does it compare with smartweed in the yield of honey 
and quality? 

A. Mustard is a good honey-plant. Just how it compares in 
yield and quality with smartweed (by which you probably mean 
heartsease) could be better told by someone having an equal acre- 



156 dr. miller's 

age of considerable extent of each. In Europe, rape, which be- 
longs to the same family as mustard, is a honey-plant of great im- 
portance. It is possible that mustard would be equally important 
if it were cultivated to the same extent. As to quality, Root's "A, 
B, C and X, Y, Z of Bee Culture" says : 'The honey from these 
plants is said to be very light, equal to any in flavor, and to com- 
mand the highest price in the market." 

Nectar. — Q. The bee gathers nectar from the flowers, which 
nectar, after undergoing a chemical process in the bee, becomes 
honey. Is not nectar dumped into the comb, then evaporated and 
becomes honey? 

A. No; if you were to gather nectar and put it in cells it 
wouldn't be honey, and if the bee were to dump the nectar into 
the cells just the same as it gets it from the flowers it wouldn't 
be honey. It must undergo a change in the bee,, although that 
change may continue afterward. 

Noise and Bees. — Q. Would the noise made by moving the 
bee-yard bother the bees any? Does noise of any kind bother 
bees? 

A. Noises in general do not trouble bees, but jarring will irri- 
tate them. » 

Nucleus. — Q. Please explain the meaning of the word nucleus. 

A. A nucleus is a baby colony. Just when a nucleus becomes 
large enough to be called a colony is not easy to say. Perhaps I 
might say it should be called a colony when it has more than 
three combs covered with bees; this in summer-time. In the 
spring plenty of colonies have only two or three combs covered 
with bees. 

Q. Would a Danzenbaker hive answer as well as a Langstroth 
for a nucleus hive? I use a Danzenbaker altogether. I thought 
I would use three frames in each compartment and cut a hole 
one-half by two inches in the bottom part of the hive for the mid- 
dle, as the frames are closed-end frames, and I cannot put the 
entrance anywhere else. The outer compartments will be the 
same as described in "Fifty Years Among the Bees." 

A. Yes, if you are using the Danzenbaker hive, use it for 
nuclei also. 

Q. Does "baby nucleus" mean simply an ordinary hive with a 
few frames, or a small hive full of frames? 

A. The term usually applies to a nucleus in a small hive, 
with one or two very small frames. 

Q. If you had some old nuclei you wished to strengthen by 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 



157 



giving a pound or two of bees purchased from some other bee- 
keeper, what precautions would you use in uniting the purchased 
bees to the nuclei? 




Fig. 22. — Examining a baby nucleus. 



A. Might do one of several ways. One way is to sprinkle all 
thoroughly with sweetened water. Or, shake them up in a dish- 
pan till they don't know "where they are at." Or, put the added 
bees in an upper story for a few days, separated from the lower 
story by a wire-cloth. During a honey crop they may be given 
right at the entrance of the colony to be helped. 

Q. Is it best to set nuclei quite a distance from strong col- 
onies? 

A. I don't believe it makes much difference. 

Q. When forming a single or twin nucleus, which is the better 
to use, a ripe queen-cell or a virgin queen? 

A. There is little to choose. If a cell is given, the young 
queen is more sure of kind treatment than when a virgin is intro- 
duced. On the other hand it sometimes happens that the virgin 
in the cell has imperfect wings, and she may even be dead, and 



158 dr. miller's 

when you give a virgin that has left her cell you know just what 
you are giving. 

Q. Would you advise one-pound packages of bees rather than 
1, 2 or 3-frame nuclei? 

A The same number of bees will, of course, be worth more 
with frames of brood than without; but considering the expense 
or expressage on combs, it is likely that a given amount of money 
put in bees without combs will be better than the same money 
put in nuclei. 

Q. Is there any trouble with robber-bees bothering new 
nuclei? 

A. I came pretty near saying always. I'll modify that by say- 
ing always if honey is not yielding, and care should be taken, 
even when it is yielding. 

Q. Is it possible to winter a 4-frame nucleus packed with chaff 
in an outside case on the summer stand? 

A. It might succeed and it might not. Something depends 
upon the severity of the winter, and the sheltered location. 

Q. Through my carelessness and a poor season I have two 
weak nuclei at the commencement of cool weather, which I am 
desirous of wintering over, as they are headed by two of my best 
queens. How shall I best winter them over? They are of about 
3-frame strength. In this locality people winter bees out-of-doors 
altogether. Our winters are, as a rule, rather open. Sometimes it 
goes to zero, but that is seldom. The bees have a flight about 
every two or three weeks. 

A. One way is to winter both in the same hive. Put in a di- 
vision-board that separates the hive in two equal parts, and put 
the nuclei in these two parts, each nucleus up against the di- 
vision-board, so that they may have the advantage of the mutual 
heat from each other. It is possible they might winter through 
in separate hives, if the hives are well protected. Strengthening 
each nucleus by giving brood and bees (bees alone if the brood 
has all hatched out) from other colonies will help their chances 
if you should try to winter them in separate hives. 

Q. Can a nucleus be wintered on top of a strong colony by 
placing a queen-excluding board between? That is, put two or 
three 1 or 2-frame nuclei in a hive and put it over a strong colony 
with plenty of honey? 

A. I don't know that anyone has ever tried exactly the thing 
you mention. Something like it is done in the Alexander method 
of putting a weak colony over a strong one in the spring; but in 
that case it is not continued more than three or four weeks. If 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 159 

continued through the winter it is very likely there would be 
more or less loss of queens. A safer plan would be to use wire- 
cloth instead of a queen-excluder, so that there would be no 
communication between the bees below and above. Of course, an 
entrance to the outside would have to be allowed to each of the 
nuclei. If outdoors, these entrances should be very small, and the 
entrance to the lower colony would need be less than with no 
entrances above. 

Observation Hive. — Q. I have an observatory hive in which I 
expect to put bees this spring. How shall I get them started? 

A. There's no trick about it; merely start as you would in any 
other hive, by putting in the comb of brood with bees and queen. 
To prevent the bees going back to the old home, set the hive in a 
dark cellar about four days. 

Q. I have Italians and the "blacks," as I call them. I bought 
an observation hive for one frame and I took out one frame of 
comb with brood and enough bees to cover the brood well, but 
the next day the bees came out of the observation hive and into 
the old hive, and there was not a single bee left. What was the 
trouble? 

A. There is nothing unusual in the case. Take a frame of 
brood with plenty of bees to cover it, and without any precau- 
tions put it in a new hive, and the proper thing on the part of 
the bees is to go back to their old home. If you had fastened 
the bees in for about three days they would have staid. If you 
had taken bees that had been queenless for three days or more, 
you would have had less trouble. If you had taken the queen 
with them, returning her after two or three days, more of the 
bees would have staid. But you probably took them from a hive 
with a good, strong queen, and they very properly resented such 
treatment. It is a good plan to remove the queen after a few 
days, as it gives you the opportunity of watching the rearing of 
young queens by the bees. 

Q. Do the sides of an observation hive have to be covered 
with some opaque substance, or^will the bees allow the light to 
penetrate their domicile at all times? 

A. It is usual to keep the hive darkened when not under ob- 
servation, but not absolutely necessary. The bees will daub 
more propolis on the glass if the light be continuous. They will 
also worry more. 

Q. What is the best location for an observation hive? Would 
an attic with a northern exposure be best, or what is the best? 



160 dr. miller's 

A. The best location for an observation hive is one that is 
the most convenient for the observer, and at the same time com- 
fortable for the bees. The most convenient place for you might 
be in one of the living rooms, with a bee-opening to the window- 
sill, and that would likely be comfortable for the bees. But there 
might be objections to that, such as the meddling of children, 
driving you to the attic, where there is danger of too great heat 
on the south side. In some attics the north side, would be all 
right; in others still too hot. To decide just the place for you, 
conditions, and also premises, must be carefully considered. Keep 
your observation-hive in some secluded corner, very close to the 
house, where the bees are not in the way, but where you can 
watch them at any time. 

Q. Do bees winter well in observation-hives? 

A. No; although an observation-hive might be constructed, 
and perhaps some are, so as to be all right for wintering. 

A good observation-hive consists of a frame or frames super- 
posed in which every side, every nook and corner is subject to 
inspection through the glass. It is, therefore, usually not fitted 
for proper wintering. 

Oilcloth. — Q. Do you think it a good plan to put oilcloth 
around the hives, leaving an air-space between hive and cloth dur- 
ing hot weather? 

A. Some protect the supers in this way to prevent the bees 
from deserting them during cool nights, but it is doubtful if it 
would be a good thing. Building paper is better. 

Q. My bees are in the cellar, and the oilcloth has not been re- 
moved from the frames. Had I better remove it now? I do not 
know that the bees can get around the ends of the frames, which 
are V/2 inches from the bottom-board, and the hive is raised one 
inch. 

A. There is danger that moisture will condense upon the oil- 
cloth and fall in drops upon the cluster of bees. The colder the 
cellar the more the danger. If you can remove the oilcloth with- 
out disturbing the bees much it would be well. 

Outapiaries. — Q. Is there any way to judge how many bees to 
keep at each apiary? Two years ago I had an apiary of 45 colo- 
nies ; they gathered 22 cases of honey, and they had enough to 
winter on. A bee-man told me he thought I ought to keep 150 
colonies here at this apiary. Would I have gotten as much honey, 
per colony, as I did with the 45? Then there would be the extra 
honey for the 150 colonies to live on. I would have more to store 
honey, but they would have to have honey to live. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 161 

A. I have been trying for 50 years, right in the same location, 
to learn how many colonies could be kept without overstocking, 
and I don't know yet. One great trouble is that no two years are 
alike as to yield. In a poor year there may not be nectar enough 
for 25 colonies, while in the very same spot a good year may give 
abundance for 100 colonies. And you never can be entirely sure 
in advance whether the year will be good or bad. If the 22 cases 
made by your 45 colonies were 22 cases of 24 sections each, that 
would be about 12 sections per colony. If that was all the sur- 
plus that could be stored by decently good bees, it is doubtful 
that a larger number would have given so very much more. For 
you are right in counting the honey gathered by the bees for 
their own use, and it is generally a good deal more than the 
amount they put in the supers. Suppose it takes 200 pounds per 
colony for their own use, and that each colony yields a surplus 
of 100 pounds. Each colony would then gather 300 pounds, which 
would be 13,500 pounds for 45 colonies. Now suppose the field 
yields 15,000 pounds. There would be 1,500 pounds that would go 
to waste, and you might just as well have five colonies more to 
gather it all. But suppose you plant 150 colonies. They would 
need 30,000 pounds for their own use. But the field yields only 
15,000, and so you would get no surplus and would have to feed 
15,000 pounds. Some locations are much better than others. In 
some parts of Iowa beekeepers harvest big crops with 300 colonies 
in a single apiary. 

Over-stocking. — Q. I have only had my bees about three years. 
The man I bought them from said he was selling off his bees and 
was going to Old Mexico, as that was a great bee country. So I 
bought about one-half of his bees, and he went away and was 
gone about two years. Then he came back and began to keep 
bees again. I have four apiaries now. One was doing fairly well, 
but he has just put a big apiary about one-half mile from mine. 
We figure on 50 pounds per colony here. Now, what would you 
eastern beekeepers think of being treated this way? It does not 
look to me like he or I will get very much honey by having the 
bees so close together. The locations for bees are about all taken 
up here, I think. There are some new locations about 18 miles 
from here. This over-crowding does not look very encouraging 
to me. What do you think of it? (Arizona.) 

A. My thought about it is that this sort of thing makes bee- 
keeping a very uncertain thing to count on. Years ago I took the 
ground that if ever it was to be a reliable business, a man should 
have just the same right to his territory as the man who keeps 



162 dr. miller's 

cattle or other live stock. So far as I now remember, not a single 
man expressed any agreement with me, although since then a 
good many have. There is quite a general agreement that a man 
has a prior right morally, although some do not even believe in 
that. But in matters of business moral rights are not very re- 
liable. I have a moral right to the possession of my horses, but 
if I had no legal right to them I doubt if I would keep them long. 
Some day beekeepers may be advanced enough so that a. man may 
be just as safe from interference in his bee-pasture as he now is 
in his cow-pasture. At present you have no redress, and must 
just grin and bear it — or else bear it without the grinning. 

Paint. — Q. Should I paint my hives all the same color? If so, 
what color would you advise? I see frome reading the American 
Bee Journal that some beekeepers advise painting hives different 
colors, as one color bothers the bees in locating their hive. 

A. There would be some advantage to the bees in the way of 
recognizing their hives if they were of different colors, but it is 
hardly necessary. Bees locate their hives by means of surround- 
ing objects, and except on a bleak plain utterly without any sur- 
rounding objects there is very little difficulty where the hives are 
5 feet or more apart from center to center. But you can just as 
well have double the number of hives on the same ground by hav- 
ing them in pairs. Set two hives close together on the same 
stand, then leave a space of 2 feet or more, then another pair, 
and so on. Ground may be still further economized by placing 
another row close to the first, letting the hives stand back to 
back. 

There is probably no better color, all things considered, than 
white, using good white lead. 

Q. Please advise me relative to the painting of hives with the 
bees in them, and at what period of the year is it best to do the 
work? I should also like to know whether or not standard paints 
are all right to use. 

A. You can paint a hive with bees in it at any time when you 
can paint the outside of a house, and can use any paint proper 
for the same purpose, with the exception of the part at the en- 
trance where the bees alight. If you put enough drier in the 
paint used there, and paint in the evening after the bees stop 
flying, it will be dry enough next morning so the bees will not 
stick in it. 

Q. Should bottom-boards of hives be painted inside? 

A. It is not necessary, although, of course, a bottom-board 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 163 

will last longer if the under side is painted, especially where 
quite near the ground. But there is no gain in painting the in- 
side. 

Painting Hives. — Q. Would you advise me to paint the hives? 

A. I don't believe it is best for me; but the majority think 
better. Painted hives look better and last longer; but I think 
unpainted are better for the bees. 

Q. Why is it that you don't paint hives? 

A. Following the teachings of G. M. Doolittle, in whose ideas 
I have great confidence, I think there is better chance for the 
moisture to dry out of unpainted hives than out of painted ones. 
I have seen a painted hive in my cellar damp and moldy when all 
the unpainted ones were in much better condition. 

Paralysis (See Bee Paralysis.) 

Parcel Post for Honey. — Q. Can extracted honey be sent 
through the mails in friction-top pails by putting it in wooden 
boxes, provided the honey is candied solid so that it would not 
run if the cover was taken off in transit? 

A. Yes, such honey can go by parcel post all right. 

Parthenogenesis (See Dzierzon Theory.) 

Pasturage for Bees (See also Apiary, Location, Outapiary). — 

Q. Do you plant anything for your bees to work on? If so, what? 

A. After trying many things, I now plant nothing specially 
for the bees. 

Q. Name the kind of pasturage I must have to get good honey. 
(Illinois.) 

A. White clover, basswood, Spanish needle, heartsease, and 
fruit blossoms are a few of the principal honey-plants in your 
state. 

Pickled-Brood. — .Q Is there a cure for pickled-brood? I know 
that during a good honey-flow the bees generally get over it. The 
inspector told me it was pickled-brood. My bees did not get in 
shape for a crop of honey until about the time it stopped. 

A. Pickled brood seems hardly a disease, but is believed by 
some to be only brood dead through chilling or some other cause, 
sc there is no cure for it, and it needs no cure, disappearing of 
itself. If you are not sure as to what ails your bees, you had 
better send a sample of the brood to Dr. E. F. Phillips, Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, and after analysis you 
will be told just what the trouble is. It will cost you nothing, 
and if you write in advance to Dr. Phillips he will send you a box 



164 dr. miller's 

in which to mail the sample, together with a frank to pay 
postage. 

Pines. — Q. Do bees ever make honey from pines? My bees 
are bringing in quite a little honey now, August 9, when usually 
there is nothing in this section except a few cowpeas that about 
feed the bees. It has been very dry here for three weeks, 
following an unusually wet spell. During most of this time the 
majority of the pines in this place have been covered with bees, 
and a fine-flavored honey is being stored. (Tennessee.) 

A. Yes, bees store from pines and, in some parts of Europe, 
very largely. 

Pollen. — Q. My bees are coming in from the fields with their 
legs loaded with pollen, and there is nothing in bloom here but 
red elm and a few little wild flowers. Do you think they work 
on red elm? 

A. Yes, bees work on any of the elms. They may also be 
working on something else that you know nothing about. Bees 
can beat us humans a long way in finding nectar or pollen. 

Q. Last spring my bees gathered pollen from maple trees 
(not sugar maple) as soon as it was warm enough for them to fly. 
Will they need to be fed flour? 

A. No; with plenty of soft or red maples, they will need no 
substitute for pollen. 

Q. In winter, if bees run out of honey stores, will they feed 
upon the stored pollen? Is it as good as the honey stores? 

A. No; when the honey is all gone they will starve to death, 
leaving plenty of pollen in the hive. 

Q. Where can I get a kind of bee-powder or food that is fed 
to bees to make them work better and produce more honey? My 
neighbor uses such, but refuses to tell me where he got it or 
what it is. It looks something like wheat flour. Bees like it very 
much. 

A. There is no sort of secret powder or food that can be 
given to bees to make them do more unless it be honey and 
pollen, and there's no secret about that. The thing probably 
meant in the present case is some kind of meal used in place of 
pollen. In the spring, when the weather is good, and yet there is 
no pollen to be had, set out a box or dish of any kind containing 
some kind of meal, and the bees will take it in place of pollen. 
Grain of any kind ground will answer. The kind I have used 
more than any other is ground oats and corn — the kind that cat- 
tle and horses eat, that kind being conveniently on hand. Put a 
stone or block under one side of the box, and when the bees dig 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 165 

the meal down level, change the stone to the other side. They 
will dig out all the fine parts, and the coarser parts that are left 
can be fed to the four-legged stock. But just as soon as they can 
get the natural pollen they will desert the meal-boxes. 

Q. Why is it that in your telling of the use of rye-flour and 
pea meal for artificial pollen, you never mention wheat flour? 
Why is wheat flour never mentioned or recommended? 

A. It is probably a case of blindly following tradition. My 
guess would be that wheat is as good as rye ; but I never tried 
either. I know that ground corn and oats do well. Flour is 
good also. 

Q. Will you kindly advise me what to do with extracting- 
combs that are filled with pollen? Many of mine are so clogged 
with pollen that I will be compelled to melt them unless there 
is some way of getting it out. 

A. I'm just a bit suspicious that the trouble is not so bad as 
you suppose, and that if you leave the pollen where it is it will 
be used up by the bees next year, always supposing it is kept in 
good condition over winter. It often happens that such pollen is 
worth more than its weight in honey early in the season. If, how- 
ever, you want to get the pollen out of the comb some other way 
than to have the bees eat it out, I'm not sure that I know of any 
good way. I have known pollen to dry up in the combs so it 
would shake out. 

Q. Will the bees remove pollen from the center combs in the 
brood-chamber so the queen can have a compact circle to lay in, 
the combs being filled by queenless bees, caused by the queen 
being lost in mating? The pollen is fresh, and the cells about 
half full. 

A. Yes, give them time enough and you will find the pollen all 
out of the middle of the brood-nest, if the queen is prolific. 

Q. What can I do to prevent bees from storing pollen in the 
sections? 

A. I know of three things that will encourage pollen and 
brood in sections. One is to have the brood-chamber too small 
and crowded. A second is to have very little or no drone-comb 
in the brood-chamber and small starters in the sections. In that 
case the bees will build more or less drone-comb in the sections, 
the queen will go up for the sake of laying in drone-cells, and 
pollen will follow the brood. A third is to have shallow combs 
in the brood-chamber. In that case there is danger of pollen in 
sections even without any brood in them. Evidently, to avoid 



166 dr. miller's 

pollen in sections, we must avoid the three conditions mentioned. 
I rarely have any trouble in that way, and I use 8-t'rame hives 
with frames 9yi inches deep, and have the sections filled full with 
worker-foundation. 

Poplars. — Q. Are poplars good honey-flowers? They are 
plentiful here. 

A. Yes; but the word poplar is used for different trees in dif- 
ferent places. What you call poplar in Virginia is probably 
Liriodendron tulipifera, which is also called tulip tree and white- 
wood. It is a good honey-tree, although the honey is dark, I 
think. 

Porticos. — Q. Of what use is the portico on some styles of 
hives ? 

A. It is supposed to protect from the wind any bees inclined 
to take a promenade on the alighting-board. It also furnishes a 
nice protection for spiders, and is not much used nowadays. 

Pound Packages. — Q. Could you start a colony with one pound 
of bees and a queen? 

A. Yes ; if started early enough in a good season it will make 
a good colony. 

Propolis. — Q. Is there any wax in beeglue or propolis? 

A. No, and yes. In pure propolis, of course, there is no wax; 
but in propolis scraped from sections or frames — indeed as bees 
use it in general — there is more or less wax, as you will find out if 
you will melt it. 

Q. Should the wax and propolis between the frames be taken 
off every time the hives are examined? 

A. No; you are doing unusually well if you attend to it once 
a year. 

Q. Is there any way of getting the propolis off of fence sep- 
arators besides the tiresome way of scraping? Will boiling injure 
the glued joints? 

A. I don't know of any better way than to scrape. Boiling 
in water would dissolve the glue, and would not be a success in 
removing the propolis. 

Q. Is there any sale for propolis, and if so, tell me where I 
can sell it. I have heard it is worth quite a bit, but never could 
find out where to sell it, or how much it is worth. 

A. I very much doubt if there is any market for propolis. If 
you have propolis that has been saved from scraping frames, sec- 
tions, etc., you may find it a paying job to melt the beeswax out 
of it. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 167 

Q. How can I refine propolis and separate it from the wax? 
Does it lose its aroma when boiled in water? 

A. I don't know how to refine propolis. I have separated it 
from wax by putting it in a dripping-pan in the oven and pour- 
ing off the wax; but it doesn't make a perfect job. One would 
think it would work to boil it in water. Boiling water doesn't 
seem to hurt the aroma of propolis. 

Pumpkin. — Q. Do pumpkin blossoms, nettles, common mint, 
peppermint, snap-dragon, camomile and love-in-tangle produce 
honey or pollen for honeybees? 

A. Pumpkins and all kindred vines do, also the mints. I don't 
know about the others. 

Punic Bees. — Q. What do you think of Punic bees? 

A. The little experience I had with Punics makes me think 
them hardy and industrious, not with the sweetest of tempers, the 
worst gluers I ever saw, and Capping honey so watery-looking 
that they are fit for extracted honey only. 

Q. Have the Punic bees proved a success in this country, or 
are they still an experiment? 

A. In the experimental stage; reports varying from favorable 
to extremely unfavorable. 

Put-up Plan. — Q. I do not understand the "put-up" plan as per 
pages 167-8 of "Fifty Years Among the Bees." On page 168 you 
say: "The cover is put on the supers, and the 'put-up' hive is 
rilled with brood, and is placed over all." 

If I were to do this I would put a solid board over the supers. 
Then I suppose you mean to place a brood-chamber of the "put- 
up" hive directly over all. But there would not be any place for 
the bees to get out. 

Should a queen-excluding board be over the supers? Or, if a 
solid board, would I have to arrange the brood-chamber on top 
so as to leave an entrance for the bees to get out? 

A. You have it straight until you say, "I suppose you mean 
to put the brood-chamber of the 'put-up' hive over all." I think 
the whole thing will become clear if you note that I do not say 
"brood-chamber," but that the hive is placed over all, and then 
remember that ordinarily when we talk about a hive we mean 
not merely the brood-chamber or hive-body, but the bottom- 
board along with it. 

To be specific about it, the lower hive has placed on it the 
super, or supers, and these are covered up just as they would be 
if no other hive was to be placed over. Then on top of this is 
placed the put-up hive with its bottom-board and its cover. This, 



168 ' dr. miller's 

you will see, leaves an entrance for the. bees in the upper hive, 
just as there would be if, instead of being put up, it were set on 
a stand down on the ground. There is no possible communica- 
tion between the two hives, and if a bee goes from one to the 
other it can only do so by going out at one entrance and going 
in at the other. 

Q. Would it not answer to put up the queen as soon- as queen 
cells with larvae in them are seen, instead of waiting and watch- 
ing for swarms? . 

A. Yes, it works well, although I have not had as much ex- 
perience with that plan as with waiting for the bees to swarm. 

Q. When you put down the queen again, is there no danger 
of her being balled? 

A. I do not recall that she was ever balled, to my knowledge. 

Queens. — Q. How can you tell a queen from the rest of the 
bees? 

A. Look for a bee longer than the rest, and with wings that 
look too short for the length of its abdomen. You'll not be likely 
to miss it the first time you see it. 

Q. What is meant by. fertile queen, and virgin queen? 

A. A queen that has met a drone, a normal laying queen, is a 
fertile queen. A virgin queen is one which has not yet been 
mated. 

Q. In the advertisements of queen-breeders, the following 
terms are used, which I do not clearly understand: Tested, Un- 
tested, Select Tested, Select Untested Queens, and Breeders. 

A. A tested queen is one whose progeny shows she has mated 
with a drone of her own race. In the case of an Italian queen 
you will see that that will mean that the worker progeny of the 
young queen shows three yellow bands. 

An untested queen is usually one sold as soon as she begins 
to lay, and so nothing is yet known as to the appearance of her 
progeny. An untested queen, of course, can be sold at a less price 
than a tested one, and that for two reasons. In the first place, 
it saves the expense of keeping the queen some three weeks, if 
she is sold untested. In the second place, if queens are kept until 
tested, those which do not come up to the test must be rejected 
or sold at a lower price as mismated, while all will be sold at the 
same price if sold while untested. 

A select queen, either tested or untested, is one that is selected 
because she is unusually good in appearance. However it may be 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 169 

with a select tested queen, a select untested queen has nothing but 
her looks to entitle her to a higher price, for nothing can yet be 
told about the looks of her unborn progeny, to say nothing about 
the performance of the same. 

A breeder is one that is considerably better than the average, 
and so, of unusual value to breed from. 

You will see that there is chance for a good deal of looseness 
in the whole business, especially as good looks and good behavior 
do not always go together. "Handsome is that handsome does." 

Q. Is there any way to tell how good the queen is in a weak 
colony, during brood-rearing? 

A. No. She may lay enough eggs to keep a weak colony sup- 
plied, but not enough for a strong colony. Yet even in a weak 
colony a very poor queen may not keep the cells filled with eggs 
in an orderly manner, but will skip more or less cells. Even in 
a strong colony you cannot tell how good a queen is merely by 
looking at her brood. The most prolific queen is not by any 
means always the best. To learn how good a queen is you must 
wait to see how much honey her bees will store compared with 
others. 

Q. I put a full depth super on top of one of my colonies, and 
an examination afterwards showed the queen was rearing brood 
very extensively in the upper story, and later on I examined the 
lower story and found that she had deserted it altogether, and 
the cells were all full of pollen. Could you tell how this could be 
avoided? 

A. A queen-excluder of perforated zinc will prevent the 
queen from going up. 

Q. Will strange queens sometimes unite with a queenless 
colony? 

A. Yes, sometimes it happens that a young queen may go into 
another hive than her own. 

Q. One morning I found six dead queens in front of the 
hives. Why do they have so many queens? 

A. Nature generally makes bountiful provision against dan- 
ger of failure. Take an apple tree, one that is thoroughly filled 
with blossoms. What if every blossom should produce an apple? 
If there's one apple for every ten blossoms there will be a heavy 
crop. But if there should be merely enough blossoms for each 
expected apple, something might happen to a good many of them, 
and there would be a shortage in the crop. Same way with the 
bees. Hundreds of drones are reared for every one needed, so 



170 dr. miller's 

there shall be no lack, and a number of extra young queens are 
also reared. At the last there may be a duel to settle which one 
of these young queens shall reign, and that gives you a chance to 
have the most vigorous one left. 

Q. Can you give me the cause for a young Italian queen 
hatching with only a part of a wing? 

A. Insufficient nourishment or a slight chilling, which may 
occur in a weak colony. Even in a strong colony a cell on the 
lower edge of the comb might be chilled on a very cold night. It 
has been said that letting a queen-cell fall, or shaking it might 
result in crippled legs or wings. In rare cases, also, a moth-worm 
may have traveled through the wall of the cell and clipped the 
queen's wing. 

Queens, Age of. — Q. How long is the life of the average 
queen? 

A. Perhaps about two years, varying from a few weeks to 

four or five years. 

Q. Is there any way to tell the age of a queen, and also how 
old should a queen be allowed to get? 

A. There is no certain way to tell by the looks of a queen 
how old she is. After you have some experience you will be able 
to make a fair guess as to whether a queen is old or young, as an 
old queen is more inclined to have a shiny look, because her 
plumage is worn away. Sometimes, however, a young queen has 
the same look. An old queen is not likely to move about on the 
combs in as lively a manner as a young one. 

There are different views as to how old a queen should be al- 
lowed to become. Some think not more than two years. In my 
own practice I allow her to live as long as she will, for when she 
gets too old the bees will supersede her without any interference 
on my part. Of course, if she is unsatisfactory in any way, I get 
rid of her as soon as I can. 

Queen Balled. — Q. What is meant by the bees "balling a 
queen ?" 

A. Very much what the word indicates; hostile bees will grab 
hold of the queen at different parts until there are bees all about 
her; then other bees will seize those that have hold of the queen, 
until there is a ball of them as large as a hickory-nut or larger. 

Q. What should be done to a queen if balled? 

A. Throw the ball in a dish of water and the bees will leave 
her. Or, you may smoke the ball; but hold the smoker at a dis- 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 171 

tance, for if hot smoke is thrown on the ball the bees will sting 
her. 

Q. What should I have done when I saw the bees balling 
the queen, other than I did — pour a little warm syrup on them 
and close the hive? Honey was coming in fairly well, and I did 
not use smoke — just a whiff over the tops of the frames. 

A. You did the right thing. When bees ball their own queen, 
if the hive be quickly and quietly closed, rarely does any trouble 
follow. If you want to be so careful as to guard against the rare 
case that sometimes happens, you can cage the queen and let the 
bees liberate her by eating out a plug of candy. 

Q. Last summer I had six swarms come out and go away to- 
gether (undipped queens), and some of the queens were balled 
and killed. What can one do to separate them? 

A. You can pick out each ball, put it in a hive, and then 
distribute to each ball its proportion of bees ; for a queen is not 
likely to be injured in a ball until you have time to make the dis- 
tribution. 

Q. I lost several queens last season when they returned from 
their wedding flight. The bees balled them. I have found them 
balled when they were not over a week old. When I took some 
bees and a virgin queen and made a nucleus, the first queen would 
be mated all right. It was the second queen that got killed. Can 
you tell me why the bees killed the queens? 

A. It is said that the bees attack the queen because she 
has acquired a strange scent. But there may be some question 
whether in returning from her wedding-flight she is likely to be 
killed by her own bees if the beekeeper himself does not meddle. 
Bees sometimes ball their old laying queen, and when I have 
found them doing so, I have always made it a rule to close the 
hive as quickly and quietly as possible, leaving the bees entirely 
to their own devices, and on looking in the hive a few days later 
everything would be found all right. If you try to rescue the 
queen from the balling bees, you stand a pretty good chance of 
having her killed. Why may it not be the same way when bees 
ball a queen that has just mated?- 

Queens, Buying. — Q. Where can I get a first-class Italian 
queen, free of disease? 

A. In the proper season there are always found in the Ameri- 
can Bee Journal, advertisements of those who have queens for 
sale, and these may be relied upon as free from disease. A man 
who would send out a queen from diseased stock would steal. 



172 dr. miller's 

Q. How soon in the spring are queen-breeders ready for 
mailing tested queens? 

A. In the South I think they can ship in March tested queens 
of the previous year. 

Q. How is it that most of the queen-breeders advertise 
queens for sale and none can supply the beekeeper with queens 
early, but only want their orders booked early, and maybe have 
the queens forwarded the latter part of May or middle of June, 
the time when every beekeeper has plenty of queen material to 
supply himself? 

A. Don't be too hard on the queen-breeders; you may some- 
time be one yourself. It is all right to book orders to be filled as 
fast as possible, provided it is an understood thing that they are 
to be so filled. If, however, he advertises to send queens by re- 
turn mail, and then delays, he's not giving you a square deal. It 
looks a little as if your idea was that when you order a queen 
you should always get it by return mail. It would be difficult for 
a man to treat alLof his customers in that way. He would be 
obliged to have a stock of queens on hand before he made such 
an agreement ; he would have no way of knowing how many to 
have in advance, and might be overstocked at a loss. You can, 
however, say when ordering, "If you cannot send a queen at 
such a time, return money," and then there could be no complaint 
on either side. 

You say they send queens when every beekeeper has plenty of 
material to supply himself. Pray tell me how a queen-breeder 
can have material earlier than the beekeeper. You and I can have 
material as early as any, and can rear queens as early; but we 
may want to buy queens for other reasons. Moreover, I wouldn't 
give 30 cents a dozen for queens reared too early, no matter 
who rears them. 

Queens, Caging. — Q. How long is it safe to keep a queen 
caged? Must she have attendants as in shipping? 

A. It is generally neither necessary nor desirable to have her 
caged more than ten days ; but I have known a queen to be caged 
double that time in her hive without appearing to be hurt by it. 
No need of any attendants in the cage; they are likeiy to die in 
the cage and thus be a damage. 

Q. How long may I keep queens caged (after they have com- 
menced to lay) without danger of injuring them? 

A. No doubt something depends upon circumstances. If a 
queen should be caged in a hive among her own bees, so that they 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 173 

can feed her, she would likely endure confinement several times 
as long as she would if the cage were left out of the hive with 
candy for the queen to eat. I have often had a queen caged in 
her hive ten days or so with no apparent harm, and my guess 
would be that she might stand it three to five times as long. 
Caged outside the hive, ten days might be all or more than she 
would stand. 

Q. Can you cage a queen and put her in a colony having a lay- 
ing queen? If so, how long can she be kept there? 

A. Yes, and she may remain weeks, or she may be dead in a 
few days. She will be more sure to remain in safety if the cage 
is provisioned than if she has to depend upon the bees to feed her. 

Q. Wouldn't it be better to cage queens on a comb of unsealed 
honey, on the push-in-cage method, than in cages with candy? 

A. The way you suggest would be better if the queen be caged 
in a strange colony; if caged among her own bees there would 
be no advantage in it. For in that case the bees feed the queen, 
which is probably better than for her to feed herself. 

Q. What is the proper procedure necessary in the caging of 
a queen over another hive, as in the case of taking one out for 
ten days or so, in the several different methods of management? 
What kind of a cage is used, and how and what is the queen fed? 
Is the common Benton mailing cage all right when provided with 
good candy? 

A. Any cage that will go easily between the combs will 
answer, such as the Miller cage. The Benton cage is too bulky. 
Sometimes, however, instead of being put between the combs, 
the cage is merely thrust into the entrance of the hive. No need 
of an}- food in the cage; the bees will feed the queen. 

Q. In sending queens by mail, what are escort bees put in for, 
to keep up the temperature, or feed the queen? 

A. The escort bees feed the queen and keep up the tempera- 
ture, and it is quite possible that they serve an important pur- 
pose in keeping up her spirits by their genial company. 

Queens, Clipping. — Q. Is there any danger of clipping the 
queen's wing too soon or before she takes her mating flight? 

A. Great danger. If you clip her before mating she will be 
a drone-layer, if she lays at all. 

Q. What is the advantage of clipping the queen's wings? 

A. The advantage is that a prime swarm with a clipped queen 
will return to its hive because the queen cannot go with it. 



174 DR. MILLERS 

Q. How do you clip a queen's wings? Is it good policy to 
do so? 

A. Probably the majority think it is good policy to clip. Mr. 
Doolittle catches a queen by one wing, lets her hold to the comb 
with her feet, and with a very sharp knife cuts the wing against 
thumb and finger. Probably a larger number, myself in the num- 
ber, use a pair of scissors, holding the queen by the thorax (not 
by the abdomen or hinder part) between the thumb and finger of 
the left hand, and cutting off most of the two wings on one side. 

Q. If a clipped queen swarmed from a hive upon a high stand 
and fell to the ground in the absence of the apiarist and could 
not get back, would the swarm return to the old hive, and would 
they, on finding their queen absent, proceed to rear a new queen 
in her place, or what would happen? 

A. The swarm would return to the hive, in which there are 
already a number of young queens in their cells. The first of 
these will emerge from its cell in a little more than a week, gen- 
erally, and a swarm is likely to issue with her. 

Q. Clipping queen's wings, as I have repeatedly read in your 
journal, is in vogue among American beekeepers. I would like to 
make a trial of it in the spring, but have some misgivings. Can 
one be sure that the issuing swarm will find and cluster about the 
queen, which, perhaps, has fallen upon the ground a few steps 
from the bee-house? Or can it also happen that the swarm does 
not find the queen, and consequently returns to the hive from 
which it issued? (Germany.) 

A. When the swarm issues, of course the clipped queen falls 
on the ground. If there is no one on hand to pick up the queen 
it very rarely happens that the swarm finds her and clusters 
about her. Indeed, in all my experience I never knew such a case. 
Sometimes the queen will be found at a little distance with a 
little cluster about her, perhaps as big as a walnut. Generally, 
however, she will be entirely alone. The swarm will return to 
the hive, perhaps in less than five minutes, after circling around 
in the air for a little time, and will pay no attention to the queen, 
even if she be quite near the hive on the ground, its only desire, 
apparently, being to hurry back into the hive as soon as possible. 
Often the swarm will cluster on a tree, just the same as if the 
queen were along, and it may remain clustered there 5, 10, 15 
minutes or longer. In most cases the queen will find her way 
back into the hive if she is left to herself. The business of the 
beekeeper, however, is to pick her up, put her in a cage, move 
the «>ld hive away, and put an empty one in its place, and then, 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 175 

when the swarm returns, to let the queen run into the hive with 
the swarm. 

Q. If the queen's wings are clipped and queen-cells are cut out 
every ten days, will that prevent swarming? 

A. The clipping of the queen's wings will not make a particle 
of difference about a swarm issuing. A swarm will issue ex- 
actly the same as if the wings were whole. Cutting out queen- 
cells every ten days may make a great deal of difference and it 
may make a very little. In the ordinary course of events a prime 
swarm is likely to issue when the first queen-cell is sealed. If, 
at any time before this, you cut out all cells that are started, the 
bees will be likely to start fresh cells, but this second time they 
may not wait for the sealing of cells, and the oftener you cut 
out cells the more eager they may be to swarm, so that finally 
a swarm may issue immediately after you have cut out cells. 
Sometimes, however, cutting out cells once or twice in the sea- 
son may prevent swarming entirely. I think the character of 
the bees has something to do in the case. Some bees are 
more given to swarming than others. 

Q. Will a queen's wings grow again after they are clipped? 

A. A queen's wing that is clipped will not grow again; never, 
never ; no, not the least little bit. 

Queens, Chilled. — Q. Will a queen that was chilled coming 
through the mails be all right next spring? 

A. Hardly; but if you want to breed from her you may get 
good stock, even if she lays so poorly as to be of little value for 
honey. 

Queens, Color of. — Q. Do queens change color or get much 
larger? 

A. There is considerable change in the appearance of a queen. 
After she is three or four days old she is smaller than when she 
first leaves the cell, and will be larger after she gets to laying. A 
queen often is darker after having gone through the mails. 

Q. I am told that "the color of a queen has nothing to do 
with the bees she wUl rear;" that "pure Italian queens may be 
yellow, leather-colored, or jet black, but their bees will be yel- 
low." Is this so? 

A. That's not so very far from the truth. Some of the best 
Italian queens are quite dark, although their workers are yellow. 

Queens Destroying Cells. — Q. Will you explain what is to me 
still a contradictory mysticism? (a) It is said that the first queen 



176 dr. miller's 

out destroys the other queens before they emerge; hence, there 
should not be afterswarming. 

(b) Yet the very fact of there being afterswarming shows 
that the first queen does not stay to destroy subsequent ones, 
but one flies off after the other. 

A. There is nothing mystical nor difficult of understanding 
when you get the whole story. When a virgin emerges from her 
cell, her first care is to find the cells of her younger royal sisters, 
with full intent to murder them in their cradles. With such frenzy 
does she seem possessed in this regard that I have many a time 
seen it the case that when a sealed cell was caged, the virgin, 
after gnawing her way out would dig a hole in the side of the 
empty cell, just as she would if a live virgin were in it. Always 
you may count on this murderous impulse on the part of this 
royal young personage, and if she were left to have her own way 
there would never be any afterswarming. 

Now, however, comes the part that you have left out. She 
does not always have her own way. In fact, calling her a "queen" 
is a neat little fiction; the term "slave" would be about as appro- 
priate. The government in the hive is not a monarchy, but a 
democracy of the most democratic sort, run by a lot of suffragists, 
and the male person has no vote. If the workers vote that the 
time has not yet come for the destruction of the young rivals, 
then a committee stands guard over each cell, driving away the 
young queen as often as she makes an attack. 

In the meantime several of the occupants of the cells may be- 
come sufficiently matured to emerge, but they are not allowed 
to do so. The guards maintain a neutrality strict enough to suit 
President Wilson; they will not let the young queen get out of 
the cell, although she may have the capping of her cell gnawed 
away all but a slight hinge; and no more will they allow the 
queen at liberty to get at the defenseless sisters in their cells. 
The free queen runs about frantically from one cell to another, 
at intervals crying, "Pe-e-e-ep, pe-e-ep, pe-ep, peep," in a shrill 
voice, each shorter than the preceding one, and then the prison- 
ers reply in a coarser tone, an apparently hurried "Quahk, quahk, 
quahk," and this piping and quahking will be kept up until a 
swarm emerges with the free queen. Then it depends upon the 
vote of the suffragists what further shall be done. If they vote 
for further swarming a single virgin is allowed to emerge from 
her cell, and she in turn will go through the same performance as 
the one who preceded her. But if the vote is for no further 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 177 

swarming, then the guards relax, allowing the cells to be at- 
tacked, and also allowing their inmates to emerge. Then there 
will be a free-for-all fight, one after the other each queen will be 
killed until only one is left, the victor in each case coming off 
unscathed. Sometimes a number of the virgins will go off with 
the swarm, where they can settle their differences as well as if 
they had stayed in the old home. 

Queen, Failing. — Q. Please state some of the indications of a 
poor, failing, or old queen. . 

A. Some of the brood in worker-cells may be drone-brood, 
as shown by the raised cappings of the cells; the brood may be 
scattering, or it may be scanty. 

Queens, Feeding. — Q. Can a queen eat as other bees or do the 
bees have to feed her? It is said that the bees feed the queen. 

A. A queen can eat as other bees, as you can easily deter- 
mine by caging one for a short time and then offering her a little 
honey. During the time of year when she is not laying she may 
help herself like other bees, but in the season of busy laying the 
bees feed her with food that is no longer undigested. If she were 
obliged to digest all the food she takes during heavy laying, I'm 
afraid the daily quota of eggs would decline very suddenly. 

Queen, Finding. — Q. Can you give any suggestions to a novice 
as to how to find the queen? 

A. Experience is the best thing. After some practice you'll 
spot a queen on a comb very readily. Don't do anything to set 
the bees to running. If they get to running, you may as well 
close the hive till another time. The two things most likely to 
set them to running are too much smoke and too rough handling. 
So use just as little smoke as will keep the bees under subjection, 
and be slow and gentle in all your movements. G. M. Doolittle 
says that from 9 o'clock till 3 the queen is most likely to be found 
on the outside of the comb that has brood in, either on one side 
or the other. If you lift out two or three frames and set them 
in an empty hive, that gives you room in the hive to glance over 
one side of each comb before you touch it at all. That is, when 
you lift out a frame, before carefully looking it over, glance over 
the exposed side of the next frame in the hive. Often you may 
see the queen thus in the hive, when with gentle haste you will 
put down the frame in your hand and lift out the one with the 
queen. After looking over the combs two or three times without 



178 dr. miller's 

finding the queen, it is generally as well to close the hive till an 
hour or two later, or till another day. 

Q. I sent for a queen the past summer. I took all the frames 
out of the hive, but I could not find the old queen, so I put the 
new queen in and they killed her. How can I use a queen-trap 
to find her? 

A. Fasten your trap at the entrance of the old hive. Lift out 
all the frames with adhering bees, and put them in an empty 
body close by. After all the frames are taken out of the hive, 
make sure that the queen is not in it, if necessary brushing all 
the remaining bees out of the hive upon the combs. Now lift one 
of the combs, shake and brush all the bees from it upon the 
ground in front of the old hive, and as soon as you have all the 
bees off the comb put the comb in the old hive. Proceed with all 
the combs in the same way, brushing all the bees in front of the 
trapped entrance, and putting the brushed combs into the old 
hive. The bees will crawl into the hive through the trap, and 
Madam Queen will be found trying to get in the same place. 

Q. What is the best way to find and catch the queen in a box- 
hive? 

A. Drum the bees out, put them in a movable-frame hive with 
a frame of brood in it, give the bees time to settle, and then look 
on the frame of brood for the queen. Or, you may sift out the 
queen with an excluder. Usually if you shake the bees in front 
of the hive you will see the queen running toward the entrance. 

Queen Introduction. — Q. Can I introduce new queens at any 
time, and how will I have to proceed? 

A. Yes, you can introduce queens any time, so long as the 
weather is warm. The proceeding is the same as at any other 
time, but introducing is not always so successful in a dearth as 
when honey is coming in freely. 

Q. Could I safely introduce a new queen to a swarm hanging 
to a limb, by killing their queen and placing the new queen on 
the cluster of bees? 

A. It might succeed, sometimes. 

Q. Is it any safer to introduce queens to one or two-frame 
nuclei in place of a four-frame or a colony of bees? 

A. Perhaps there is no difference, but if there is any differ- 
ence it is safer to introduce to the weaker. 

Q. What difference, if any, is there in acceptance of a queen 
in a colony that has been queenless for some time (no laying 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 179 

worker), and in case of increase by division of a colony, as to 
queen given to the queenless part? 

A. Introduction would be quite a bit more likely to be suc- 
cessful in the second than the first case. It is generally found 
that it is more difficult to introduce a queen to a colony that has 
been queenless for some time than to one from which the queen 
has been recently removed. The reason may be because of the 
age of the bees, for it is the older bees that make trouble when 
a new ruler is introduced. It is better that they should not be 
queenless for any length of time. 

Q. How should bees act when favorable to accepting a queen 
introduced to a colony that has been queenless perhaps ever 
since the swarm was hived last May? (October.) 

A. It is easier to tell by looking at them whether they feel 
like accepting her than it is to tell how one tells. If the bees are 
hostile to her, they may be grasping the wires of the cage as if 
trying hard to get at the queen, while if they feel kindly toward 
her they will sit quietly and loosely on the cage. That's not tell- 
ing you very much, is it ? Well, I may as well tell you that if the 
case were right before me, I couldn't always tell for certain. They 
might appear to be looking as sweet as you please at the queen, 
with murder in their hearts all the while. 

Q. I have had trouble in introducing laying queens on account 
of the bees starting cells. I have always lost about half of the 
queens I tried to introduce. Would it be perfectly safe to shake 
about a pound of bees taken from three or four different colonies 
into an empty hive containing about three combs with no brood, 
and confine these bees three or four days; in the meantime intro- 
duce a queen in the regular way, brood to be given later? Would 
these bees be likely to swarm out after they were released? 

A. The plan has been used, the bees being put in the cellar or 
other dark place. They ought not to swarm out afterward. 

Let me give you one of the kinks I have used in introducing a 
valuable queen. It is the old bees, and not the youngsters, that 
make trouble when a step-mother is given them. So the thing to 
do is to get the field-bees out of the hive before the queen is 
given. That is a thing very easily done. Just set the hive in a 
new place, and leave on the old stand a hive with one of the 
brood-combs. When the gatherers return from the field they will 
go to the old stand, and in 24 hours the old hive will have in it no 
bees more than 16 days old. As a matter of convenience, I lift 
the old hive from its stand, setting it close by; put the new hive 
with one frame of brood on the old stand, put on this the cover, 



180 dr. miller's 

and then set the old hive over all. At the same time the caged 
queen is put into the upper hive. By the time the bees have eaten 
out the candy and liberated the queen, or some time before it, all 
the field-bees have joined the lower hive, and the queen is kindly 
received by the younger bees. In two or three days, when the 
queen has begun to lay, the hive may be returned to its original 
place, and the fielders will make no trouble when they enter. 

Q. What is the best way to introduce a valuable queen? 

A. With a very valuable queen, if you want to be entirely 
safe, proceed in this way: Put two, three, or more frames of 
brood in an upper story over a strong colony, having a queen- 
excluder between the two stories. In about eight days all the 
brood will be sealed. Now lift the upper story, take away the ex- 
cluder, and cover the hive with wire-cloth, which will not admit 
the passage of a bee. Over the wire-cloth set an empty hive- 
body. One by one lift the frames out of the removed upper story, 
brushing off upon the ground in front of the hive all the bees 
from each comb, and putting the brushed combs into the empty 
upper story. Put your new queen into the upper story and cover 
up, making very sure that not a bee can get in or out. Your 
queen is now alone in the upper story, but will probably have 
company within five minutes, for young bees will be hatching out 
constantly from the. sealed brood. No bee can get from one 
story to the other, but the heat can rise from below to keep the 
upper story warm. In about five days you can set this upper story 
on a new stand, giving it entrance for only one bee at a time. If 
your bees act like mine have done, and the circumstances are 
favorable, before night you will see some of the five-day-old bees 
entering the hive with pollen on their legs. 

Q. Please explain the Abbott plan of introducing queens. 

A. Put the new queen in a hive with a provisioned cage with 
the candy protected so the bees of the hive cannot get at it. In 
about two days remove the old queen and give the bees access 
to the candy so they may liberate the queen. 

Q. I wish you would explain as clearly as possible how to in- 
troduce a queen by the smoke method. 

A. In "Gleanings in Bee Culture," what you call the smoke 
plan of introduction was thus given by Arthur C. Miller, of Rhode 
Island: "A colony to receive a queen has the entrance reduced 
to about a square inch with whatever is convenient, as grass, 
weeds, rags, or wood, and then about three puffs of thick, white 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 181 

smoke — because such smoke is safe — is blown in and the entrance 
closed. It should be explained that there is a seven-eighths- 
inch space below the frames, so that the smoke blown in at the 
entrance readily spreads and penetrates to all parts of the hive. 
In from 15 to 20 seconds that colony will be roaring. The small 
space at the entrance is now opened; the queen is run in, followed 
by a gentle puff of smoke, and the space again closed and left 
closed for about ten minutes, when it is reopened and the bees 
are allowed to ventilate and to quiet down. The full entrance is 
not given for an hour or more or even until next day." 

Q. What is the Sibbald quick method of introducing queens? 

A. Hunt the queen out that is to be removed and put her in a 
wire cage on top of the frames. Then the queen that is to be in- 
troduced is laid on top of the same frames, too, and left till eve- 
ning. Now remove the old queen and put the new queen in the 
cage from which the old queen has just been taken, and over the 
end of the opening fasten a piece of comb foundation. Place on 
the frames again, after punching a few small holes with a pin 
through the foundation and let the bees release the queen. Some- 
times Mr. Sibbald rubs the dead body of the old queen, that has 
just been killed, over the outside of the cage she has just come 
out of. 

Q. How soon after introducing a queen is it safe to open the 
hive to see if she is all right? 

A. It is a little safer not to disturb the colony for three or 
four days. 

Queens, Keeping. — Q. The bees will take care of their own 
queen in a cage. But if she is caged and put in another colony 
above the excluder, will those strange bees take care of her? 

A. Generally there will be some bees so good-natured as to 
feed a strange queen; but it is safer to have the cage provisioned, 
and then the queen can feed herself. 

Q. I have always been puzzled how to keep a lot of queens 
when not having immediate use for them. You stated once about 
the maximum length of time one could keep queens in cages 
without danger to their laying powers. I suppose while so caged 
they do not lay any eggs. But even the interruption in laying 
while queens are in the mails is said to be harmful. 

A. In the case you speak of, the queens were kept in small 
cages in a small colony. This was in the spring when there was 
no heavy laying yet, and I doubt if the queens were at all in- 
jured by being kept from laying. My guess would be that a 
queen, or a number of queens, might be thus kept safely for a 



182 



DR. MILLER S 



month, perhaps two months, in a queenless colony, or a queen- 
right colony, if the bees would feed her. Indeed, she might be 
kept in a candied cage if the bees did not feed her, only in that 
case bees having a queen of their own might be hostile to her, 
and this nervous irritation might be bad for a queen. I am not 
sure that it has ever been claimed that the cessation from laying 
was an injury to queens sent through the mails. It doesn't hurt 



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Fig. 23. — The queen laying, surrounded by her retinue of bees. 



a queen to remain all winter without laying. Nor is it likely she 
is injured by ceasing to lay in a dearth long continued. She may- 
be injured by being jarred and frightened in the mails, by sudden 
cessation from laying, and especially by being flung about when 
heavy with eggs. 

Queens, Laying. — Q. How soon will a queen begin to lay after 

being fertilized? 

A. Generally in two or three days, but she may be longer. 

Q. I have an observation hive. The bees were put into this 
hive about June 1, and I have been looking closely for the queen, 
but have never seen her. Is she covered by the workers while 
laying. They have brood and honey sealed. 

A. No, she is not covered when laying; but she may be hid- 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 183 

den under a mass of bees when not laying. It is a little strange 
that you have not seen her; but if eggs are present she must be 
there, and if you persevere you will probably see her. 

Q. What kind of a queenbee is it that lays part drone and 
part worker-eggs in worker-cells; is she an old queen, young, or 
not fertilized? I bought 50 queens this spring, from one of the 
most popular queen-breeders in the South, and three of them 
lay part drone and part worker-eggs in worker-cells, and one 
more laid all drone-eggs in worker-cells. 

A. An old, played-out queen may begin laying occasionally a 
drone-egg in a worker-cell, and gradually increase until she lays 
nothing but drone-eggs. But this is by no means always the case 
with old queens. Occasionally a young queen begins laying with- 
out being fertilized, and, of course, will lay only drone-eggs. 
Sometimes a young queen lays part drone-eggs in worker-cells, 
either because imperfectly fertilized or on account of some func- 
tional disability. Sometimes a young queen lays drone-eggs for 
a while, and then lays worker-eggs all right. 

You do not say what kind of queens you bought, but buying as 
many as 50 at a time it is practically certain that you bought 
them as untested queens. That would rule out the chance of 
their being old queens, always supposing you bought from an 
honest man. An untested queen is generally shipped as soon as 
convenient after she begins to lay, and all that the breeder is 
supposed to know about her is that she is reared from a good 
mother, that she is physically perfect so far as appearances go, 
and that she has begun to lay. The purchaser takes his chances 
on whether she is purely mated or whether the eggs she lays in 
worker-cells will all produce worker-bees, unless, indeed, they are 
sold as warranted queens. Yet it is probably not often that so 
many as 4 out of 50 turn out badly. 

Queens Leaving Hive. — Q. While trapping drones this spring, 
I caught a queen in the trap. Does a queen ever leave the hive ex- 
cept with a swarm? 

A. She leaves the hive also on her wedding trip. 

Queens, Mating. — Q. W T ill a queen mate with a drone if she 
is never allowed to leave the place where she is confined with a 
drone? 

A. If you mean confined to the hive, no. It is possible she 
might mate if confined in a tent, but it would have to be an im- 
mense tent. 

Q. Do queens always mate with a drone in the air? 



184 dr. miller's 

A. Yes. 

Q. If a queen is never allowed to mate with a drone, would 
she lay fertile eggs? 

A. If she lays eggs at all, they will produce only drones. 

Q. How many times does a queen mate? 

A. Once for life; but some cases have been reported in which 
a queen mated the second time. She may, however, make sev- 
eral flights before mating. 

Q. How long will it take after a queen is hatched for her to 
mate? 

A. Five days or longer. 

Q. Do you agree that a queen is never mated after she is two 
or three weeks old? Last March I had a colony of bees super- 
sede its queen, and this colony contained just a small patch of 
drone-brood which did not hatch till the queen was about 10 days 
old, and there was no other drone-brood in the yard. The queen 
commenced to lay when she was about two months old, and now 
she is the mother of one of the strongest colonies. I give this 
simply for what it is worth. I examined this colony once every 
two days, till the queen started to lay, and so these figures are 
accurate. 

A. As a general rule a queen is never mated after she is 10 
days old — perhaps not after she is a week old. But there are ex- 
ceptions, and how far those exceptions extend I don't know. If 
your queen did not lay till two months old, she may have been 
fertilized only three days before she began to lay, and she may 
have been fertilized sooner, but likely she was at least a month 
old when fertilized. This is exceptional. 

Q. Do you think queens would mate with drones a mile away? 
There is a big woods between us. 

A. Yes, a distance greater than that would not prevent 
mating. 

Q. How far away from other bees would we have to place 
a colony to insure pure mating? 

A. You might be safe at two miles, but to be entirely safe 
you might have to be five miles or more. No one knows exactly 
how far. 

Q. Please say how queen-breeders mate queens purely while 
bees of other "nationalities" are present. 

A. They don't ; at least not always. For if it is desired to keep 
a certain kind pure, they do not have any other kind in the apiary. 
But something may be done toward getting what you want in 
this way : 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 185 

Put in the cellar the hives containing the drones and the young 
queens. After it is too late in the day for other drones to fly, 
take out the cellared hives, and incite them to fly by feeding. 
You may be a little more sure of this if the cellaring has con- 
tinued two or three days. You may also succeed by taking them 
out in the morning, so as to get them to fly before other drones 
are out. 

Q. I shall want to clip the queen's wing when she becomes 
fertile. When should this be done? 

A. She is likely to begin laying when about ten days old, al- 
though it may be a day or two less, and it may be several days 
more. Do not clip her till you are sure that she is laying regu- 
larly in the combs. 

Queen Nursery. — Q. I want to ask about the Stanley nursery 
for queens. I have Dadant, Hutchinson and Root on bees, but 
none of them has anything about it. I would like to know where 
one can be procured or how made. I am anxious to have one. 

A. The essential part of a Stanley queen-nursery looks like 
a cartridge shell for a gun. The shell is made of excluder-zinc, 
and is 2 inches long, with an inside diameter of three-quarters of 
an inch. The perforations of the zinc run transversely. It is 
simply a piece of excluder-zinc 2.36 inches long and 2 inches wide, 
rolled up into cylindrical form and soldered together. The two 
ends are closed by common gun-wads. The workers have free 
entrance to the cylinders, while no queen can enter to make an 
attack. In the little experience I had with them I found that the 
young queens were sometimes killed by getting caught in the 
slots, but not often. They have, on the other hand, the advantage 
over other nurseries that the workers can have free access to the 
cells, and it is claimed, especially in Europe, that the close contact 
of the workers has a very important influence on the occupants of 
the cells. A number of these cartridges — I think 48 — may be con- 
tained in an ordinary Langstroth brood-frame, and be put be- 
tween the brood-combs in a hive. They can probably be had from 
the inventor. 

Queens, Northern and Southern Bees. — Q. Would it do to 
send to Texas, or other warm countries, for queens? Would they 
stand the cold up here in New York state and be hardy? 

A. So far as I know, queens from the South do just as well as 
those reared farther Xorth, and are just as hardy. 

It is well known that, in general, each region has plants and 



186 dr. miller's 

animals adapted to its particular climate and locality, and those of 
tropical regions do not well endure the rigors of the far North. 
So it is natural to suppose that bees in the South become less 
hardy. But characteristics do not change over night, and if bees 
become less hardy in the South it would be only through a long 
course of years. Even if a southern breeder should have stock 
that had been bred in the South for a hundred years, if there was 
any suspicion that it had become less hardy, it would be the work 
of a few weeks at most to have that stock entirely changed 
through getting one or more queens from the North. 

So the usual reply that queens reared in the South are just as 
hardy as those reared in the North may be counted correct for 
all practical purposes. Italian bees are from a country with a 
warm climate. It freezes but little in any part of Italy, and the 
climate is certainly less severe than that of Texas. 

Queen-Rearing. — Q. How late in the season can queens be 
reared and mated? 

A. That depends on the season. If honey is yielding, any time 
through September. But you are not likely to have good queens 
if you rear them too late, and losses on wedding flights will be 
greater. 

Q. I have been considerably puzzled by a case called to my 
attention in which a party claims that a hive of bees swarmed 
with a virgin queen, leaving a clipped queen at the head of the 
colony. I have been under the impression that the bees or the 
virgin queen generally killed the old queen on account of her 
inability to leave with the swarm. 

A. You are right in your impression as to the bees or the 
virgin putting out of the way the old queen; at any rate, when a 
colony with a clipped queen swarms, and the beekeeper does not 
interfere, you may count upon the old queen turning up missing 
a week or more after the issuing of the prime swarm, and the 
colony swarming with the virgin. But I think I have seen re- 
ports of rare exceptions. At any rate, it is not impossible that the 
old queen might be suffered to remain, perhaps both queen and 
virgin going with the swarm, and then the old queen crawling 
back into the hive. 

Q. My frames are about 9 inches square, inside measure. I 
have some small hives that hold four and five frames each. Will 
they rear strong queens if given eggs? These hives are used to 
build up. 

A. A hive containing four or five frames, each 9 inches square, 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 187 

would not hold a very strong colony, and a queen reared in it 
would not be so good as one reared in a strong colony, at least 
up to the time of sealing the cell. After the queen-cell is sealed 
it is not so important that the cell be in a strong colony and in 
hot weather it will do very well to be in a nucleus. 

Q. Do you consider forced queen-rearing (as used by those 
who transfer the larvae) as good as natural methods given by you 
in your book? Are the queens as long-lived and as prolific? 

A. In the hands of skillful men I don't see why just as good 
queens cannot be reared by the methods in vogue among queen- 
breeders but I don't see how they can be any better. But I would 
lay stress upon having cells started under favorable circum- 
stances, with a good yield of honey, and in a colony in the humor 
for starting cells. No colony is too strong or too good to rear 
queen-cells. 

Q. Are not queens reared from the egg better than those 
reared from the grub? 

A. I don't believe they are if the grub be young enough. 
Scientists tell us that during the first three days the food to the 
queen larva is the same as the worker larva, only in larger 
quantity. But it is likely the worker gets all it can eat; so theo- 
retically a queen reared from a worker larva three days old should 
be as good as one reared from the egg. I think, however, that a 
larva of less age is better, because when bees have their choice 
they select one younger; I think not more than perhaps a day and 
a half old. Such a queen is probably as good as one reared from 
the egg. 

Q. I wish to rear queens as soon as practicable in the spring. 
How can I tell when the proper time comes? 

A. Not until about the time the most advanced colonies begin 
to start cells of their own accord. Or, to take it on another basis, 
not until bees are gathering enough so as to begin building comb. 
You can begin a good deal sooner than either of those times, but 
your queens will not be worth rearing, and they may have trouble 
in becoming mated. 

Q. Which is the simplest way, rear queens in nuclei, or re- 
queen the selected colony by inserting a frame with queen-cells? 

A. It is much simpler to hang in the hive a frame with a 
queen-cell, or to put in a queen-cell without the frame. Only in 
that case you will have to wait ten days to two weeks before the 
young queen begins to lay. You also run some risk that the 
young queen may fail. 



If 



DR. MILLER S 



Q. I am working my bees for extracted honey exclusively, 
and use a three-story hive. Can I requeen my apiary by rearing 
young queens in the upper story by employing two queen-exclud- 
ing honey-boards, one over the brood-nest, and one under the 
top story in which the new queen stays? Of course, I must bore 
a hole in the back of the super from which the young queen can 
fly. Will I get rid of the nuisance of finding my young queen 
killed, or at least gone, when I take a notion to hunt out the old 
queen and decapitate her? 

A. Years ago I was delighted to succeed in the way you out- 
line, but of late years failures have been the rule, so I have given 




Fig. 24. — Queen-cells built on a comb specially prepared. 



it up. I don't know what makes the difference, unless it be that 
originally the upper story with the young queen was more 
isolated. The farther up the top story, the better. Indeed, the 
first time I had a queen reared and laying in an upper stor} r was 
an accident, and there was not even an excluder in the case. I 
put three or four stories of empty combs over a colony to have 
the bees take care of the combs, and in order to make the bees 
traverse the whole, I put some brood in the upper story — no ex- 
cluder anywhere. After some time I was surprised to find a young 
queen laying in the upper story. The bees had reared her from 
the brood, and it happened that there was a leak under the cover 
which she could fly through. In my later attempts there has not 
been so great isolation, and it might be worth while for me to 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 189 

try again. At any rate, it is worth your while to try it, keeping 
in mind to have your upper story high up. 

Q. I am thinking of re-queening by allowing a queen to be 
reared above the excluder and then allow her to come back and 
enter the hive below after she is fertilized. Will she kill the old 
queen, or be killed? If you think this is not a good plan, what 
would you advise? 

A. If you should succeed in getting a queen reared and she 
should return from her wedding trip, it is uncertain which queen 
would be killed. 

Q. This year we had only one colony out of nine that stored 
any surplus honey; they~were Italians in an 8-frame hive. Next 
year we would like to make some increase from this colony, as 
we have plenty of extra combs and hives. 

About swarming time, if I remove the queen from this colony, 
in a few days there will likely be a good many queen-cells started. 
Now, if there happens to be cells on each frame, could I make 
eight nuclei from it by taking one frame of bees and then take a 
frame of hatching-brood and bees from some other hive, and per- 
haps a frame of honey, and fill up the hive with drawn combs? 

Q. Yes, your scheme will work. If the cells should happen 
to be all on one or two combs, you can cut out a cell and fasten 
it on another comb by pinning over it a hive-staple. When you 
take the extra frame of brood and bees from some other colony, 
shake into your nucleus the bees from one or two more of the 
frames, since a good many will return to their old home. Or, to 
prevent returning, you may fasten the bees in the nucleus for two 
or three days. 

Q. How may I rear choice queens on a small scale? 

A. I will give one plan that should give you the best of queens. 
Of course, if you rear choice queens you must have a choice queen 
from which to rear them. The colony containing this queen 
should be built up strong, if necessary, by the addition of brood 
and bees from otheV colonies, so that it shall be the first to swarm. 
About eight days after it swarms there should be a fine lot of 
queen-cells that you can utilize to the best advantage. The more 
nearly mature they are the better, but if left too late there is 
danger that some of them may be torn down by the bees. If you 
are willing to take the trouble, there is a plan by which you may 
have them fully mature. When the colony swarms, hive the 
swarm on a new stand, leaving the mother colony comparatively 
strong. You might even return some of the bees of the swarm to 
the old hive. Beginning about a week after the issuing of the 



190 dr. miller's 

swarm, go to the hive each evening after the bees have quieted 
down, put your ear to the side of the hive and listen for the pip- 
ing of the young queen, which you will hear as soon as she issues 
from her cell. You will have no difficulty distinguishing her sharp, 
clear tones, even if you have never heard a queen pipe before. 
The other virgins in their cells will quahk in reply. Now go to 
the hive next morning and cut out all cells, but look sharp 
that none of the virgins escape which have gnawed open the cap- 
ping of the cell, but are kept prisoners by the workers. In "Fifty 
Years Among the Bees" I have very fully detailed the way in 
which I rear queens for my own use, a plan I would use if I had 
only half a dozen colonies. I think it might pay you well to get 
the book just for that part alone. 

Q. Is there a better way of rearing queens for an amateur 
without queen-rearing tools, when queens are wanted before the 
swarming season? If so, please explain. (Iowa.) 

A. You don't need any special queen-rearing outfit for ten 
queens a year, nor for 100. I'll tell you how you can rear just as 
good queens as can be reared from your stock, with no other 
outfit than what every beekeeper is supposed to have on hand. 

Take a frame out of the hive containing your best queen, and 
put in its place a frame with a starter an inch or so deep. A week 
or so later you will find the bees have filled the frame three-quar- 
ters full, more or less, with new comb, with larvae well advanced 
down to eggs around the outside edge. Trim off the outer edge 
that contains only eggs, leaving the larvae. It isn't easy to be 
exact about this, and it isn't very particular, only don't cut away 
any of the larvae; no harm if you leave some of the eggs. Indeed, 
i f is not absolutely necessary to cut off any of the comb; only 
that outer margin is in the bees' way. Now put your prepared 
comb in the middle of a strong colony from which you have re- 
moved the queen, and in nine or ten days cut out the cells and 
give them to nuclei. In about two weeks later you ought to find 
most of them changed into laying queens. You see, it isn't a 
very complicated matter, and needs no special outfit. 

You note that I give no date as to when you are to do these 
things. I can't, because it may be three weeks later one year than 
another. But be sure not to begin too early. In your locality, if 
you were to begin in March you wouldn't get one good queen out 
of twenty. Figure so as to give the brood to the queenless colony 
when the bees are working prosperously in the fields. In your 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 191 

locality that probably means that the bees should not start to 
build queen-cells until white clover begins to yield, or any time 
later; and, of course, the empty frame must be given to your best 
colony a week or so earlier. 

Q. Is the nature, quality, color, etc., of queens affected by the 
bees that rear them from the egg? That is, if I give a cross 
colony eggs from a queen whose workers are gentle, to rear a 
queen, will the workers of the queen reared be gentle if she is 
fertilized by a drone from a gentle colony? 

A. It is held by some that the character of a queen is ma- 
terially affected by the nature of the nurse-bees that rear her. It 
is certain that a young queen poorly fed will not be so good as 
one that has a bountiful supply of best food. That is, perhaps, 
the chief reason why the attempt to rear queens very early in the 
season is generally a failure. But take two royal larvae, one fed 
by nurse-bees of the most vicious temper, the other by the 
gentlest of all bees, each being alike lavishly fed, and it is hard 
to understand that there should be any great difference in temper 
of the young queens, if both had the same mother. 

Queens and Swarms. — Q. When a first swarm issues, how long 
is it before the young queen emerges in the hive? 

A. The first afterswarm issues about 8 days after the prime 
swarm (perhaps sooner, perhaps later), and the young queen 
probably emerges the day before that, say about a week after the 
prime swarm. 

Q. Is a queen on the outside or inside of a swarm which is 
clustered on a limb? 

A. She may be anywhere in the cluster, and sometimes the 
bees will cluster and the queen not with them at all. 

Queens, Shipping. — Q. Do you think that queens that come 
through the mails are as good as those not caged? 

A. Certainly it would not be safe to suppose that a queen 
will be improved by a journey through the mails. She may not be 
injured at all by such a journey, and the injury may be serious. 
Even in a case where a queen is greatly injured by being mailed, 
she may be a very profitable investment. Suppose you have a 
strain of very poor bees, and you order a queen of a strain of bees 
that will store double as much as your bees. She is so badly in- 
jured in. the mails that she is slow about beginning to lay, lays 
very sparingly, and gives up the ghost before you have had her a 
month. All the honey stored by her progeny, if sold at a high 
price will not amount to as much as you paid for the queen. If. 



192 dr. miller's 

you figure merely on the honey stored by the colony in which she 
was introduced, the purchase of the queen was a losing operation. 
But that isn't the only thing to be considered. Even if she lays 
only a very few eggs, if you are lively about it, and from those 
few eggs rear enough queens to requeen all your colonies, that 
stock may be just as good as if the queen had never been injured 
in the mails at all, -and as a consequence you have just doubled 
your future crops. In other words, the injury of a queen in the 
mails does not necessarily injure the stock reared from her. 

Queens Stinging. — Q. Can a queen sting? 

A. If you allow two queens to come together, unless one of 
them is very old, you will soon learn that they can sting, for one 
of them will soon be a dead queen. The strange part of it is that 
the victor is never injured in these duels. But a queen will never 
sting you. I have handled thousands of queens, and I never knew 
one of them to make the least show of stinging. Nor will a queen 
sting a worker. Just once in my lifetime I knew of one exception 
to this rule, when I saw a queen sting a worker. 

Queen-Trap. — Q. As I have no time to be around at swarming 
time, I am going to put on the queen and drone-trap. Will that 
be right? 

A. It will be all right if you give the proper attention after- 
ward. But merely putting on a trap will not answer. The queen 
will be caught in it, and if you leave her there, there will be a 
young queen in the hive in a week or so, and when she tries to fly 
out to be fertilized she will be caught in the trap, and then you 
will have a queenless colony. You will have to keep watch and 
when the queen is caught in the trap make an artificial swarm, 
or dispose of matters some other way. 

Queens, Two in One Hive. — Q. Wouldn't I get more honey by 
having two laying queens in a hive; first a hive-body, then a 
super, then a honey-board; next a hive-body, with the second 
queen; lastly a cover? Would the two laying queens fight through 
the honey-board? 

A. The queens could not very well fight, but I don't think you 
would gain by the plan. One of the queens is likely to disappear 
before long. 

Q. Will two or more laying queens in one hive prevent 
swarming, as told by Alexander? 

A. I think the plan did not pan out very well afterward. 

Queens, Virgin. — Q. How do virgin queens look? 






THOUSAND ANSWERS 193 

A. A virgin queen looks very much like a laying queen, only 
her abdomen is smaller. 

Q. How long after the prime swarm issues before the first 
virgin will begin, laying? 

A. About seventeen days. 

Queen-Cells. — Q. Are queen-cells all at the end or at the bot- 
tom of the combs? 

A. Bees generally build queen-cells along the lower edges of 
the combs. But if there is a hole, or some irregularity of surface 
in a comb, thus making room for a queen-cell, the bees do not 
despise the opportunity. In rare cases they will even build a cell 
separate from the comb on one of the bars of a frame. If a colony 
becomes suddenly queenless, they build cells over young worker- 
larvae, converting them into young queens, and these cells are 
often built right in the center of a brood-comb where there is no 
hole or irregularity of surface. 

Q. Which end of a queen-cell is the bottom — the end that a 
queen hatches out of, or the end where the egg is laid? 

A. The top is the bottom, always. Sounds tangled, doesn't it? 
You see, it's like a teacup; when the cup stands full of tea, the 
bottom of the cup is toward the ground; and then when the cup 
is turned upside down the name "bottom" still belongs to the same 
part we called the "bottom" before, although the bottom now 
points skyward. The bees build queen-cells upside down, and so 
the bottom of the cell, like the bottom of the teacup when turned 
upside down, always points skyward. (To be sure, in rare in- 
stances, a queen-cell lies horizontally, but that occurs so seldom 
that it doesn't count.) Then, when we speak of the other end of 
the cell, the illustration of the teacup fails. For when a teacup is 
upside down, the part that is downward is still called the top; 
but the part of a queen-cell that is downward is not the top, but 
"the lower end." So the egg is laid in the bottom of the cell, and 
the young queen emerges from the lower end. Absurd way of 
talkin, isn't it? But please don't blame me; I wasn't born when 
beekeepers agreed to talk that way about a queen-cell. 

Q. If the queenless bees should make a queen-cell, and place 
therein an egg, how long before the cell will be capped, and how 
long before there is a full-fledged queen? 

A. In eight or nine days from the time the egg is laid the cell 
should be capped. But instead of an egg, queenless bees will 
start with a larvae two days or so of age, and it ought to be capped 



194 



DR. MILLER S 






four to six days later. In fifteen or sixteen days from the laying 
of the egg the queen will hatch. 

Q. When is a queen-cell ripe? 

A. The term "ripe" is applied to a queen-cell when it is near 
the time for the young queen to emerge, perhaps any time within 
two days, possibly within three, of emergence. When a cell is 




Fig. 25. — Queen-cells built on the lower side of combs by a colony which had 
been deprived of its queen. 

sealed, you may know that at the farthest it will be only about 
eight days till the young queen emerges. Usually the sharp point 
of the cell will be gnawed away something like two days before 
the hatching, leaving the cell quite rounding at the end. 

Q. When a colony is queenless and there are queen-cells, then 
one queen hatches, do the bees, or the first queen hatched, destroy 
the other queen-cells? 

A. Both engage in the gruesome business. 

Q. How often will I have to look for queen-cells? 
A. There's no law against your doing so whenever you feel 
like it, but I suspect you mean to prevent swarming. As already 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 195 

said, the bees may swarm in spite of all you can do in that way, 
but it is hardly necessary for you to destroy cells oftener than 
once every ten days. If that will not prevent swarming, it will 
hardly prevent it to destroy them more frequently. 

Q. Do you shake the bees off the combs when looking for 
queen-cells? If so, do you shake the bees on the ground or upon 
the tops of the frames in the hives? My bees seem to try to hide 
cells b} T clustering in bunches. 

A. Sometimes the combs are looked over without any shaking, 
for if cells are in the hive at all, one is not likely to miss them all. 
But if a single cell is found, then it is* hardly safe to omit shaking 
all the combs. Just how the shaking is done depends upon cir- 
cumstances. If the queen is to be found, she must be found before 
any shaking is done, and the frame she is on set out of the hive, for 
if a single frame is first shaken, then it's good-bye to finding the 
queen. After the queen is out of the hive, the bees may be shaken 
on the ground, on top of the frames, or into the hive between the 
frames. If the queen is not to be found, the bees are shaken on 
the top-bars or into the hive between the frames. 

Q. If I remove the queen from one of my black colonies and 
put in a frame with a queen-cell on it, would the queen-cell need 
to be protected from the bees for a few days? 

A. Yes, if the cell is not protected and is given before the 
•bees have discovered their queenlessness, it will be torn down. 
But in 24 hours they are likely to discover their queenlessness. 

Q. Can a queen-cell, by careful handling, be cut from a comb 
and put into another comb for a colony, to any certainty, with- 
out injuring it in any way by pressure, or exposure, or should it 
always be introduced on the comb on which it is built? 

A. Thousands of queen-cells have been cut from the comb 
and fastened in or on another comb with just as good results as 
if left on their own comb. Indeed, in many cases, even when the 
cell is taken on its own comb, it is better to cut out the cell and 
fasten it on the comb, for a large portion of cells are on the 
edges of combs where there is danger of their being chilled, and 
they should be centrally located, where sure to keep warm. 

Q. How many queen-cells may I give one strong colony to 
complete during a good flow, the colony being extra strong? I 
mean to get good queens. 

A. Some limit the number to ten. But as a colony left to itself 
rears twice that number very often, it is doubtful whether it is 
necessary to limit the number so much. Indeed, it is possible that 



196 dr. miller's 

you will do no harm to give quite a large number, say as many as 
40; the bees themselves will do the limiting by destroying the 
excess. 

Q. Why is it that queen-cells sometimes fail to hatch, even 
when carefully protected by prepared cages? In any case, I in- 
variably find that the larvae in the cells shriveled up at the 
hatching end of the cell; this in spite of a plentiful supply of 
"royal jelly," favorable climatic conditions, and during the honey- 
flow. I have sometimes attributed the foregoing to the fact that 
cells were made from a queen's first round of laying; but I have 
recently noted the same results with a second-season queen's 
brood. 

A. Swiss beekeepers, who are away up in matters pertaining 
to queen-rearing, tell us that mere physical heat is not enough 
to bring young queens safely to maturity; the bees must be 
allowed to be in close contact with the cells, exercising some mys- 
terious influence by their close contact with the occupants of the 
cells. According to that it is a mistake to cage cells as soon as 
they are sealed. In my own practice I leave the cells uncaged in 
a strong colony, not caging them till there is danger of their 
hatching. But there is one thing that looks as if another cause 
was at the bottom of the trouble. You say you find the larva 
"shriveled up at the hatching end of the cell." That looks as if 
the combs had been shaken, thus throwing the larva out of its bed 
of jelly. 

Q. I had one colony queenless and gave it a frame of 
brood. The third day after, it had four queen-cells started. 
The next time I looked they were capped. When they had been 
capped about a week I looked into the hive again, intending to 
cut them out, but found that the bees had torn them down before 
it was time for them to hatch out. I also found two artificial 
swarms with queen-cells had done the same thing. I gave one of 
them another frame of brood. What is the matter with these 
colonies ? 

A. The probability is that a young queen had emerged from 
her cell. Her first care would be to see that all rivals were out 
or the way. Possibly you may say that you are sure that could 
not have been the case, for you looked the combs over very, very 
carefully, and every queen-cell was torn open at the side, the end 
Oi the cell being entire, showing that no queen could have emerged 
from it. In that case a virgin from elsewhere may have entered 
the hive. Oftener than you might suppose, a virgin or laying 
queen enters some other hive than her own. Sometimes, however, 
bees take a notion to destroy cells with no apparent reason for it. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 197 

Queenlessness. — Q. What is the best sign of a queenless col- 
ony in the spring? 

A. The best sign is to find no brood present when all other 
colonies have started brood. Even by looking at the outside, you 
may be suspicious if you find the bees of a colony carrying no 
pollen, or very little pellets, when other colonies are carrying 
loads of it. 

Q. Will queenless bees store honey? 

A. Yes, indeed. 

Q. I have two colonies that I know are queenless, and still 
they are busy carrying in pollen. Some say they will not do this 
when they have no queen. Is this so. If so, why do these carry 
pollen ? 

A. Queenless bees do. carry pollen; but after they have been 
queenless for a time they have a surplus of pollen on hand and 
then they carry less pollen and smaller loads. 

0. When a colony becomes queenless, what is the best way 
to requeen ; give it a sealed queen-cell or a frame of brood, or 
what would you dor 

A. A cell just ready to hatch will gain about 12 days over 
giving a frame of brood, and a laying queen w T ill be about 10 days 
better still, so if I hadn't the laying queen I would prefer the cell 
to the frame of brood. If it was very early in the season, I would 
unite with a weak colony having a good queen, rather than give 
a frame of brood. 

Q. I have a fine 10-frame hive with plenty of stores and of bees 
— but queenless. I dare not order a queen from the South, as a 
cold snap would kill her. If a frame of brood from another hive 
is introduced and a queen is reared, there are no drones for her 
to mate with. Laying workers may develop at any time. But I 
do hate to lose that colony. What would you do? (March. 
Missouri.) 

A. You are w r ise in thinking it best not to rear queens too 
early. Aside from the lack of drones, it is true that queens reared 
much before the time of swarming, and if drones are present, 
generally turn out to be so poor that they are often worse than 
none. All the same, you can give the colony one or two frames of 
brood from some other colony, with a goodly proportion of eggs 
and unsealed larvae. Then within ten days kill all queen-cells 
started on this brood, and at the same time give a frame or two 
o; fresh brood every ten days until conditions are right for rear- 
ing a queen, but allowing no young queen to emerge until then. 
You will do three things : You will keep up the courage of the 



198 dr. miller's 

colony, you will help keep up its laying strength, and you will 
keep it from having laying workers. And if the brood you give 
them be mostly eggs and very young brood, it will not cost such 
a great deal to the colonies from which it was taken. 

After all, that's hardly answering your question, for you said: 
"What would you do?" In the preceding I've said what you can 
do. It isn't likely I'd do that. I would harden my heart and break 
up that queenless colony. At least I'd unite it so there would be 
one less colony in the apiary. If there was another colony quite 
weak, but with a good queen, I'd put a sheet of newspaper over 
the queenless colony, and set the weak colony over it. Then the 
bees would gnaw a hole through the paper and unite peaceably. If 
I hadn't a very weak colony, I'd divide combs with adhering bees 
among two or more colonies, taking such colonies as most needed 
help. In this way, although I would have one less colony, I would 
be likely to have more bees, and by the middle of the summer 
likely more colonies. 

Q. If the hives are broodless and queenless by June 1, and 
if given a frame of eggs, larvae, and sealed brood to rear a queen, 
will the queen be fairly good? 

A. Young bees are the ones to rear a good queen, and in the 
case you mention there are probably few or no young bees, so 
the resulting queen would not be likely to be very good. The 
best thing to do with such a colony is to break it up and unite 
with another colony or with other colonies. If you haven't the 
heart to do that, then a better way than the one you mention is 
to give your queenless colony the queen of some other colony, 
and let that other colony rear its own queen. 

Q. Will a colony of bees that loses its queen in October or 
November live through the winter? And can they be kept until 
May, or until the shipping season begins? 

A. They are not likely to live over, but sometimes they do. It 
will probably be more profitable to unite them with a colony 
having a laying queen, even if you divide again in the spring. 

Q. If you had a colony of bees quite strong with a lot of 
drones, that was discovered to be queenless as late as November 
1, what would you do with it? 

A. Before doing anything with it, I should w^nt to be quite 
sure it was queenless. "A lot of drones" in a strong colony in 
the fall is not always sure proof of queenlessness, although some- 
thing depends upon how large the "lot" is. The absence of all 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 199 

brood November 1 is no proof of queenlessness, neither is the 
failure to find the queen, for the queen is hard to find, because 
small. Unless you have some stronger proof than the presence 
of drones, better leave it till spring, and then break it up, divid- 
ing the combs and bees among your weakest colonies. If sure it 
is queenless, you can break it up at once. In any case, it will do no 
great harm to leave it till spring. 

Q. If a colony of bees lost its queen in the winter, how long 
would it live? 

A. If she were lost in the winter, the supposition would be 
that she laid as long as usual in the fall. The bees would become 
less and less in the spring, and if they did not desert the hive the 
last of them might be dead perhaps some time in May, or June. 

Races of Bees (See also Italians, Carniolans, Caucasians, Cy- 
prians, Punics, Etc.) — Q. Could one keep several different races of 
bees in the same apiary? 

A. Unless it be for the sake of experimenting with a different 
race, it is better not to try to keep more than one kind. Even 
with only one, you may find it beyond you to keep them pure; 
for they will mix with bees as far as a mile or two away and 
farther. 

Q. Are all breeds of bees of the same size? If not, which are 
the largest breeds? What is the main color of the so-called gray 
Caucasians? Are they gray or black, and are they as good work- 
ers as the Italians? 

A. Honeybees are practically the same in size. Caucasians 
look so much like common black bees that you couldn't tell them 
apart by their looks. Opinions differ as to their gentleness and 
storing qualities. While some prefer Caucasians, the majority 
prefer Italians. 

Rape. — Q. Has rape any honey value to make it worth plant- 
ing for bees alone? When should it be planted to yield the most 
honey? 

A. Rape is a fine honey-plant, but neither that or any other 
plant will pay to sow for honey alone, unless it be on waste land 
where it will take care of itself. Spring is probably as good a 
time as any to sow rape. In Germany rape is highly prized as a 
honey-plant, and sometimes bees are hauled some distance to 
be in reach of rape fields. 

Raspberries. — Q. Do bees gather much from the blossoms of 
raspberries ? 



200 dr. miller's 

A Yes, the raspberry is a very important honey-plant. In 
some localities, notably in northern Michigan and Ontario, it 
yields a handsome surplus. 

Records. — Q. Will you tell me some simple way in which I 
can keep a record of queens, etc., to see if there is any improve- 
ment in them? 

A. I use a cheap blank book, giving to each colony its place, 
and enter there the important items, especially the amount of 
honey each colony yields. That matter I keep in a spot on the 
page by itself, so that at any time I can glance at it and tell just 
what the colony has done. This credit may be made in the apiary 
at the time the honey is taken off. For instance, this credit may 
appear: 24, 24, 24, 15. That means I took away 24 sections each 
time at three different times, and the equivalent of 15 sections at 
the last time, making 87 sections in all. 

Redwood. — Q. I have a chance to get some hives made of Cali- 
fornia redwood. It is used for making incubators in this town. 
They say it will not take water, ants or moths will not work in it, 
and it will stand painting. Would the honey taste from it, or 
would the bees want to live in hives with that odor? Some say 
to wash the hive with salt water or peach leaves. I can get hives 
made from this very cheap, although redwood is high-priced. 
Have you had any experience in this matter? 

A. California redwood has been successfully used for bee- 
hives, and you need not fear its effects, on the honey, even with- 
out salt or peach leaves, which probably have no effect. But you 
will hardly rind it proof against ants and moths. 

Renting Bees'. — Q. I let my bees on halves last summer. 
Should the man who took the bees have left enough stores for 
winter? Four of my colonies starved to death before I could at- 
tend to them, and ten more would have starved within a week if 
1 hadn't fed them. This man told me they had plenty of stores for 
the winter. I let him have 28 colonies on June 5. Wasn't he sup- 
posed to return to me 28 colonies in the fall? He returned only 
28 colonies with half of the increase, and the increase was eight 
.swarms. Now, wasn't this man supposed to leave my be< 
good shape, ready to put into the cellar? Is there any law on 
renting bet 

A If there was any law about the matter the great proba- 
bility is that the law would insist on the carrying out of. any con- 
tract made in the premises. So the whole thing depends upon the 
agreement that was made, and to make sure about it the agree- 
ment should have been in writing. If there was an agreement 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 201 

that you should receive back a certain number of colonies at a 
specified time, then the agreement should be carried out, even if 
the man to whom the bees were let should have to buy bees to 
make out the number. As to disposal of the increase, a common 
custom is to divide equally, but that custom is hard 1 y law. You 
let the man have 28 colonies, and you say "he left me only 28 
with half of the increase, and the increase was 8 swarms." If you 
mean by that that you got back the original number, 28, and half 
of the 8 swarms, or 32 in all, it would seem right. As to the condi- 
tion of the bees in the fall with respect to stores, that depends 
upon agreement; you would get the bees back in the fall without 
any feeding, if the season was so poor that they needed feeding 
in the fall. But if they had plenty of stores for winter in the 
brood-chamber before turning over the bees to you, then I should 
say he was not trying to play fair. In a matter of this kind, if 
there is no written agreement, the fair thing to both parties is the 
fair thing to do. If you have bees and I take care of them, I fur- 
nish the time and perhaps the location, and you furnish the bees. 
If there is no honey, I have lost my time, and you will have to lose 
your bees unless you furnish me with honey to feed them, in 
which case I would feel compelled to do the work. But if there 
is a crop and I make some money, you are entitled to a part of the 
profit. The custom is for the man who furnishes the bees to fur- 
nish material, hives, sections, etc., and the crop and swarms are 
divided equally. This is a fair division between labor and capital. . 

Requeening. — Q. Do you think I need to requeen the colonies 
this fall that I requeened last summer? If they are good this 
spring will they be good next spring? 

A. Xo need to requeen if the queens are good. 

Q. If I introduce an Italian queen into a colony of black bees, 
will her offspring be pure? 

A When a new fertilized queen is introduced, all the bees in 
the hive will be of the new stock just as soon as the offspring of 
the old queen have died off, and in the busy season that will be in 
about tw r o months, or a little more. If the new queen is pure 
Italian and purely mated, then all the new workers will be 
Italians. 

0. To requeen all or part of an apiary with ripe cells from a 
breeder, I thought of dequeening about August 1 and introducing 
ripe cells. The bees hatched from eggs laid by the old queen 
from August 1 to 14 (when the new queen would begin to lay) 
would not, I think, aid materially in the harvest, which is about 



202 dr. miller's 

July 10 or 15 to August 25 or September 1. How would this work? 
How are cells to requeen with? 

A. It ought to work all right. Requeening with cells is all 
right, only, of course, there will be less break in the rearing if 
laying queens are given. 

Q. I have lately bought 16 colonies of black bees. They went 
into the cellar on December 12, strong in bees and plenty of good, 
sealed stores. They are in line condition, but as the hives are of 
all sizes and shapes, good for nothing but kindling wood, I shall 
transfer to my dovetailed hives. Do you think it would pay me 
to requeen them with good Italian stock early in the season? 

A. Requeening early in the season is sure to interfere, at least 
a little, with the building up of a colony, with the possibility of 
interfering a great deal in case there is some hitch in introducing. 
If you are requeening for the sake of having better stock to breed 
from, it may pay to do so early, even it it interferes greatly with 
the honey crop. But in your case you hardly want to interfere 
with the crop this season. So, perhaps you will do just as well 
to leave the old queens until after swarming, at least, if not until 
near the close of harvest, unless your queens are poor, when it 
would be best to requeen at once. 

Q. In one of my colonies I have a very prolific queen which 
I desire to breed from and requeen live other colonies. Later I 
wish to divide into two or three-frame nuclei and rear queens 
from this stock. Please advise the best method for me to pursue. 

A. It's a bit hard to know just how to advise, there are so 
many ways of doing and so much depends upon circumstances, 
previous experience, and perhaps other things. In spite of the 
fact that I don't like advertising, 1 will say that I think that you 
would get information enough on that one topic alone to make 
the purchase of "Fifty Years Among the Bees" a profitable in- 
vestment. But I'll give you one way that ought to be successful, 
even if you have but little experience. Strengthen the colony 
with your choice queen by giving it brood with adhering bees 
from other colonies, SO it will be the first to swarm. Call it A, 
and name the other colonies in the order of their strength, B, C, 
1). K, F. When A swarms, set the swarm on the stand of A, and 
A on the stand of B, and put B in a new place. A week later you 
can cut out the queen-cells and give them to C, D, E and F, having 
dequeened these a day previous. If, however, you want to operate 
in an easier way, after yon have put A in place of B, it will be 
strengthened by receiving all the field bees of B as they return 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 203 

from the field. Then it will be practically certain to swarm when 
the first virgin emerges, and you can leave the swarm on the same 
stand from which it issued, and set A in place of C. Repeat the 
same thing each time A swarms, setting it successively in place of 
D, E, and F. 

Q. I am thinking of trying the following plan this season : I 
will find and destroy the old, inferior queen, and introduce a 
sealed cell (in a cell-protector) at the same time I remove the old 
queen. Can this be done safely? Or had I better wait about 
placing the cell until two or three days after removing the old 
queen? 

A. Very likely your plan will succeed. Waiting two or three 
days would make the bees more willing to accept a cell, but in a 
West cell-protector the cell ought to be safe anyhow. The cell 
ought to be well advanced; then if it does not hatch out all 
right, it will pay to have on hand other cells so that you can de- 
stroy all "wild" cells (those that the bees start on their own 
brood), and give another cell of good stock. 

Rheumatism. — Q. I have read that some people were cured of 
rheumatism by the stings of bees. I have a customer who is very 
fond of honey, and as she has the rheumatism badly, and is under 
the doctor's care, she is advised against eating honey. She was 
also at a Michigan bathing sanitarium and not allowed to eat 
honey there. 

A. The fact that some people are cured of rheumatism by 
means of stings does not necessarily prove that eating honey is 
good for rheumatism. Honey and bee-poison are two very differ- 
ent things. Yet I have never understood that the use of honey 
was contra-indicated in rheumatic cases. It is possible that in 
the case in question some particular condition makes it advisable 
to deny the use of all sweets; but it is safe to say that if they are 
at all allowed it will be better to use honey than sugar. That able 
authority, Dr. Kellogg, at the head of one of the most noted 
sanitariums in the world, endorses the use of honey as being more 
readily assimilable than sugar. 

Rietsche Press. — Q. Do you know anything about the Rietsche 
press for making foundation? 

A. Thousands of Rietsche presses are in use in Europe, one 
reason being that so much of the foundation on the market there 
is adulterated. In this country there is no trouble about buying 
pure foundation, and although a few years ago a number had 
machines to make foundation, nearly all buy now. 



204 dr. miller's 

Q. Would it pay to have a Rietsche press for 100 colonies (I 
use shallow extracting-frames and sections on each colony), or 
would it pay to sell the wax and buy foundation? 

A I doubt that you could easily make foundation with a 
Rietsche press that would be satisfactory for section honey. For 
brood-frames you can make foundation with it that might be 
satisfactory. Whether it would be advisable to make or buy de- 
pends upon circumstances. 

Robbing. — Q. What is a good sign of bees being robbed? 

A. When you see unusual activity at the entrance, especially 
if the colony is weak, catch one of the bees that comes out with 
considerable bustle, kill it and see if it has honey in its sac. If 
it goes out with a full sac, you may count there's robbing. In a 
large number of the cases of robbing that occur in the spring, it 
is because the colonies are queenless and practically worthless, 
and the best thing in such case is to let the robbers carry out all 
the honey without disturbing them. About 'the worst thing is to 
take the hive away, for then the robbers will pitch into the ad- 
joining hives. If you take the hive away, put in its place another 
hive just like it, with a comb or combs having just a little honey 
in them, letting the robbers clean out the little honey without dis- 
turbing the neighboring colonies. 

Q. If bees begin robbing a hive, can it be stopped, and how? 

A. If bees have a good start at robbing a weak colony, it is a 
hard matter to stop them. Perhaps the best thing is to take away 
the colony, putting it down cellar for two or three days, and put 
in place of the hive another hive like it, containing some comb 
and a little honey. (If you leave nothing for them to work at, 
they will attack one or more of the nearest colonies.) W T hen they 
have cleaned out the little honey, and satisfied themselves there is 
no more to be had, they will quietly give it up. Then, after two 
or three days, return the colony to its place, closing the entrance 
to a very small space, perhaps allowing passage for only one or 
two bees at a time, and it may be that the robbers will not make 
another start, especially if a good queen is present. But if the 
colony is queenless, the case is hopeless. Sometimes robbing has 
commenced at a fairly strong colony with a good queen. The first 
thing is to limit the entrance. Perhaps painting carbolic acid 
about the entrance will answer. A pretty good way is to pile hay 
or grass in front of the entrance and keep it well wet with water. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 205 

Generally robbing is owing to some carelessness on the part of 
the beekeeper, and prevention is better than cure 

Q. (a) Last summer I cut a bee-tree and secured a fine swarm 
of Italians, with a fine-looking queen. I put it in an 8-frame hive, 
and in a few weeks examined it, and it had six frames of capped 
brood, and the other two frames very nearly full. In a few days 
I noticed the bees dragging out their young, and every morning 
the ground would be covered with young bees not large enough 
to fly. I opened the hive and found they were tearing the combs 
to pieces and had nearly all the brood out of the combs. The 
queen was still in the hive and seemed to be in good condition. In 
a few weeks more I opened the hive again, and found only a 
handful of bees — queen and bees had disappeared. They were 
within a few feet of the kitchen door, and I do not think they 
could have left without some of us hearing them. Can you tell me 
what was the matter? 

(b) Do you think it will be safe for me to use these frames of 
comb in another colony this spring? 

A. (a) I don't know. The only way I can account for the 
combs being torn is that robbers did it. They might also drag out 
the young bees, leaving the queen, at least for a time. Yet it 
seems very strange that a colony strong enough to have six 
brood-combs should have been overcome by robbers. Perhaps 
they were starving. 

(b) If my guess is right that the combs were torn up by rob- 
bers, then it will be safe to use them again. 

Q. I have read in the bee journals about bees that seemed de- 
termined to rob, and if any of them are that way probably I have 
some of that stock. I would be glad if you can tell me where I 
can get a stock that is not inclined to rob. 

A. It is possible that there may be a strain of bees naturally 
given to robbing; yet you will find that all bees are inclined that 
way when opportunity offers at a time when nothing is to be had 
in the field. Please understand that bees have no morals, and 
when they can't get honey from the fields it seems entirely hon- 
est to get it from some other hive if they can, and you will prob- 
ably find that the better they are at gathering from the field the 
better they are at robbing if they turn in that direction. When 
robbing occurs, it is not generally because the bees are such bad 
robbers, but because the beekeeper has done some fool thing to 
expose a weak colony and start robbing. Keep colonies always 
strong and avoid the start. Bees that have once engaged in rob- 
bing are the more inclined to begin another time, but it is not 
true to say of them, "Once a robber always a robber." 



206 dr. miller's 

Q. This last summer, after the honey-flow was over, I noticed 
a lot of robber bees prowling around, and every now and then one 
would manage to slip past the guards and steal a load of honey. 
Finally they overpowered one and came very near robbing it be- 
fore I got them stopped, and I got them perfectly quiet at one 
time and contracted the entrances to all the colonies. In a few 
days there came a little rain, and after it cleared up they started 
to prowling around again, and kept it up until cold weather, but 
they were worse after a rain or damp spell than at any other 
time. Is that their natural way of doing, or should they keep 
quiet during a dearth of honey, and would it have resulted in a 
general case of robbing if I hadn't contracted the entrance? 

A. It is a common thing for bees to prowl about and try all 
crevices of hives at any time when gathering has stopped, and 
after a rain, and it is quite possible that your narrowing the en- 
trances may have prevented a bad case of robbing. 

Rocky Mountain Bee Plant. — Q. Please give a description of 
cleome. If planted in the spring, will it flower during the sum- 
mer? What soil is best for it? Is it an annual? What time in 
the year should it be planted? 

A. Cleome integrifolia, or Rocky Mountain beeplant, grows 
wild in some parts of the West in large quantities, and is an ex- 
cellent honey-plant. Some years ago it had quite a boom, and 
seed was planted largely. But it is doubtful that anyone who 
sowed seed ever got back the cost of the seed. A. I. Root found it 
inferior to its near relative, the spider plant, although neither 
was worth cultivating. It is doubtful that it is worth while for 
you to try it if it does not grow wild with you. It should be sown 
in spring; is an annual, so blooms the first year. I don't know 
what soil suits it best. I know it does well here in good garden 
soil; but the acres of it I saw out West were growing wild on 
land that looked to me poor. 

Roofing Paper. — Q. Please discuss the advantages and disad- 
vantages of roofing paper, such as "Ruberoid," as a wrapping 
paper for the winter protection of bees. 

A. I don't know enough about "Ruberoid" to discuss it fully, 
yet if you mean to use it to wrap about the hives in winter, I 
should think it altogether too heavy, if it is the same material 
that is used for roofing. It has the advantage of durability, and 
for covering over the top is no doubt excellent. But its heaviness, 
and especially its stiffness, would make it unfit to wrap about a 
hive to be tied on. The lighter tarred building paper is better for 
that, and less expensive. But I am not speaking from experience, 
as I winter bees in the cellar, where nothing of the kind is needed. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 207 

Royal Jelly. — Q. How long will royal jelly, taken from a 
queen-cell, keep and still be fit to use in grafting cells? 

A. Much depends upon the thickness of the jelly and how 
open it is kept. If very thick, in a warm place, with air stirring 
so as to encourage evaporation, it might be unfit to use in less 
than an hour. Not very thick, in a cool place, with little chance 
for evaporation, I guess it might keep two or three days. 

Sage. — Q. Where does the sage honey come from? 

A. California. It is one of the principal honey-plants of that 
state. Sage honey is of very fine flavor and finds ready sale in 
any market. There are several varieties of sage growing wild in 
California, all of them yielding more or less honey. 

Salt. — Q. How is salt fed to bees? 

A. It is not often that salt is fed to bees. Some have thought 
it desirable, because in the spring bees are found where salty 
moisture is to be obtained. Others think the bees care only for the 
moisture, and prefer a place not because the water is salty, but 
bcause it is warmer than in other places. The easiest way to give 
salt to. bees is to give it in their drinking water 

Sap. — Q. Is sap from rock maple good feed for bees? If so, 
should it be boiled down or fed as it comes from the tree? If 
boiled down, how far should eight quarts be reduced to make the 
best feed? 

A. Yes, the bees will take it without boiling down. But look 
out not to feed it on days too cool for bees to fly freely. 

Scent in Bees. — Q. Do bees have a sense of scent? If so, 
where is it located? 

A. Yes, bees have a sense of smell. Until lately this sense has 
been believed to be located in the antennae. Now Dr. James A. 
Nelson locates it in different parts of the body. 

Sealed Covers. — Q. I am a young beekeeper. I had seven colo- 
nies last fall, and put all of them under cover on the south side 
of a shop. I thought they would be good and strong in the spring, 
but when I set them out I found only two alive. These were good 
and strong. I had sealed covers on them, but they looked as if 
they had been pretty damp. They all had plenty of stores except 
one. Do you think the dampness killed them? What plan would, 
you suggest for me to take next winter? - 

A. Likely the dampness had much to do with it. With only a 
single thickness of board for a covering, it would get quite cold, 



208 dr. miller's 

and the moisture from the bees would condense on it and fall in 
drops on the bees. To avoid this, have a super or some kind of a 
rim over the hive, and have this filled with rags, crumpled news- 
papers, planer shavings, or something of the kind; this filling 
resting on burlap which is directly over the frames. Even with 
the covers just as you have them, you could pile a lot of packing 
on top of the covers, and this would help a great deal, for it 
would make the sides of the hive colder than the cover, and the 
moisture would settle on the sides instead of the top. It would 
be a good plan for you to find within ten or twenty miles experi- 
enced beekeepers who winter successfully, and find how they 
winter. 

Sections, Clean. — 0. How would you keep the section-boxes 
white and clean? The sections I took out were all covered with 
propolis, and were a sorry looking sight. How can this be helped? 

A. In some supers the sections are protected so that the bees 
cannot get at much of the wood to soil it, but with the best that 
can be done they will be able to get at some of the wood, and the 
bees are sure to crowd glue into the cracks that must be made by 
covering up, for it is their nature to crowd glue into any crack 
not big enough for them to crawl through, while a planed sur- 
face fully exposed will get very little glue. I prefer T-supers 
which leave bottom and top of the sections entirely exposed, and 
then they are scraped with a steel cabinet seraper and sand- 
papered. 

Sections, Granulated Honey in. — Q. I had a large number of 
partly filled sections last season, and the honey granulated before 
I found time to extract it. Can I put these sections into the su- 
pers in that condition, or would you advise setting them out for 
the bees to clean out before using? 

A. Don't think of putting them on again unless you can have 
the honey cleaned out of them thoroughly by the bees, and next 
time have that done in the fall. 

Sections, Kind to Use. — Q. As the price of sections is very 
high, and section lumber very cheap in my neighborhood, do you 
think it would pay me to buy a machine to make sections? 

A. No; there is probably not a man in the country who makes 
sections only for his own use. A complete outfit of section ma- 
chinery would cost several thousand dollars, probably. 

Q. Do you prefer beeway sections to plain, and why? 

A. 1 prefer beeways because they are more easily handled 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 209 

without danger of thrusting the fingers in them. Although I 
might never jam my fingers into a plain section, the danger comes 
when the retail grocer handles them. But even while in the bee- 
keeper's hands, they must be handled with more care, which means 
more time. A plain section tumbles over more easily than a bee- 
way section. A plainer, cheaper separator goes with the beeway. 
On the other hand, it takes a smaller case for plain than for bee- 
way sections, although it's easier to lift the beeways out of the 
case. 

Q. In using beeway sections, do you put the beeway at the 
bottom, or at the side? 

A. The beeways are to allow a way for the bees to go up, so 
they are at the top and bottom of the section. 

Q. Is there any advantage in the sections open four sides, 
or open top and bottom only, or only on bottom? If there is any, 
what is it? 

A. At one time it was claimed that with the four sides open 
the bees would have more free communication, and would fill out 
the capping to the wood better. The few that I tried did not 
seem to have this advantage. A section open top and bottom 
is absolutely necessary if you tier up. If you never use more than 
one super at a time the opening at the bottom would be enough. 

Q. (a) What style of section would you advise? I had thought 
of the ideal, 3^x5x1^, plain. 

(b) Are not many of the best plain sections ruined for ship- 
ping by the bees drawing them a little beyond the wood? 

A. (a) After trying more or less the different kinds of sec- 
tions, I settled down some time ago upon the 2-beeway sections, 
434x454x1^. I think this is the preference of the great majority of 
comb-honey producers. 

(b) I don't think there is so much objection on that score as 
there is because the plain require so much more care in handling 
lest the fingers be thrust into the comb when they are handled. 
More care must always be taken in setting down a plain section, 
lest it topple over. During cleaning, the plain section is more 
likely to be injured. In general it may be said that the projection 
or the wood in a beeway section is a protection, although it has 
more of a lean look than the plain. 

Q. Which section is better for the 8-frame super, the 434x4*4 x 
1% or the 4x5x1% section? 

A. There is little to choose, but most beekeepers would prefer 
4%x4l4x\Ji to either. 



210 dr. miller's 

Q. What about two-pound sections? 

A-. They had the field when sections were introduced years 
ago, but side by side brought 2 cents a pound less than the 1- 
pounds ; so that notwithstanding the less labor in their produc- 
tion, they were driven out of the market. It is somewhat doubt- 
ful whether they would do any better now. 

Section-Folding. — Q. How should I manage the sections? 
Must they be wet before bending, or bent dry.' I see a hand- 
machine advertised for bending them. Would you advise the use 
of one, or bend by hand? 

A. Sometimes sections can be put together all right without 
wetting; generally too many of them will break unless the joints 
are wet. If you have many sections to fold, you will find it better 
to have some kind of section-press. 

Sections, Short Weight. — Q. It rather displeases me that my 
sections of honey (1912), while looking well, averaged in weight 
only 13 ounces, while about all the others I weighed in this neigh- 
borhood weighed at least 14 ounces, and sometimes more. Are 
there any reasons evident for such discrepancy? In 1912 I had 
five times more honey than in 1911. 

A. You will probably find that in flush years, when honey 
comes in rapidly, combs will be filled out more plumply than in a 
slow flow, perhaps because in a slow flow the bees have more 
time to build wax and seal combs. You will also find that they 
will fill combs more plumply if crowded for room. Like enough 
you gave the bees more surplus room than your neighbors did. 
Taking one year with another, you are probably the gainer by it. 

Sections, Taking Off. — Q. Do you take off sections as fast as 
finished, or do you leave all on until the flow is over? 

A. Neither. I take oft" each super as soon as it is finished, or 
finished all but a little at the outside corners. 

Q. What is the best way to get the bees from the sections 
when I remove the super? If one should take the super a dis- 
tance from the hive and brush them off, would they go back to 
the hive, or would they get lost? 

A. The Porter bee-escape is a nice thing to use if you have 
time to wait for it; and if you want more prompt work, there is, 
perhaps, nothing better than the Miller tent-escape, which latter 
you can make yourself. It is probable that you do not have 
enough honey to make it worth while to have an escape; yet I 
think if I had as many as five colonies I should make a Miller 
escape. Without having an escape there are several ways to pro- 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 211 

ceed. The way you speak of will work, for if you brush the bees 
oft close to the hive or several rods away, they will find their way 
home again, unless there be some bees on the section so young 
that they have never left the hive — a thing not likely to happen. 
Another way is to pile up several supers in a pile, bee-tight at 
the bottom, and over the top spread a sheet or other covering 
that is bee-tight, but will let the light through. From time to 
time lift off the sheet and let the bees that are above escape, and 
in the course of a few hours all ought to be out. Whatever way 
you do, it is well to smoke down a good part of the bees before 
removing the super; but don't be too lavish with your smoke or 
the honey will taste of it, and smoke doesn't improve honey as 
much as it' does ham. 

Sections Unfinished. — Q. What causes bees to leave a few 'sec- 
tions of honey uncapped in the central part of a super all filled 
with honey; plenty of bees and warm weather? 

A. There's a difference in nectar, some of it being ripened up 
more slowly than the majority. It is just possible that when the 
bees commenced work in the supers, the central sections were 
filled with nectar of this kind, or with honey that possibly for 
some other reason they were slow about sealing, and then the 
rest of the super was filled with honey of a character to be 
promptly sealed. Another possibility is that the central sections 
were in some way objectionable, possibly from having foundation 
or comb that had been used before and left too long in the care 
of the bees when not being filled, and so covered to some extent 
with propolis. Still another possibility is that there was brood 
in the central sections; then, after the brood hatched out they 
were filled with honey which, of course, would be later in being 
sealed. Another possibility is that this was drone-comb and the 
bees left it without honey for a long time in the hope the queen 
would find it and lay eggs in it. 

Q. If I use your plan of taking off honey, taking the filled 
and capped sections, are the unfinished ones returned to the same 
hive and in place of the ones taken out new sections put in, or 
do you fill this super with other partly-filled sections taken from 
another hive? 

A. The unfinished sections from different hives are assem- 
bled into one super, and then this super is put back, possibly on a 
hive from which none of the unfinished ones were taken, no at- 
tention being given to where the sections came from. 



212 , dr. miller's 

Q. What do you think of putting down into the brood-cham- 
ber say, perhaps two framefuls on each side? 

A. The plan is not used so much as formerly, if indeed it is 
now used at all. If you leave the sections below to be finished, 
you are likely to have pollen in them, and also to have the cap- 
pings darkened. When sections have been put below it has gen- 
erally been merely to get the bees started in them and then put 
them up. But it is not advisable to put them below at all. 

Q. Will partly-filled sections do for fall feeding in place of 
sugar? Would they keep until next year if properly cared for? 

A. They will do nicely for fall feeding, and will keep well 
for use the next year, or for five years later, after the bees have 
cleaned them out in the fall. But unless the honey is thus cleaned 
out in the fall, it is not likely you can keep them so as to be used 
the next year. 

Q. I have a lot of sections that were on the hives last season, 
but owing to the drouth, which caused a sudden stop in the honey- 
flow, they were not completed. Some of them contained some 
honey, which I allowed the bees to remove last fall, and merely 
started to be drawn. (They had had full sheets of foundation in 
the first place.) Shall I use these as they are this season or will 
there be too much mid-rib to make the best honey? I have often 
used the "go backs" for baits, using from one to four in a super, 
but I have 20 to 30 supers full now. 

A. If you have unfinished sections that are fall-emptied and 
in good condition, use them and be exceedingly thankful for every 
one you have. Bees do not add to the mid-rib, no matter how 
long sections are left on the hive; but there is danger if they are 
left on too long in the fall that the bees will plaster them over 
with propolis, in which case there is nothing to do but to cut out 
and melt them up. 

Q. I would like to learn of a good plan to clean up sections 
that are unfinished in the fall of the year. I have thought of tier- 
ing up supers 12 or 15 high, and let the bees rob them out, but as 
my yard is close to the house and buildings, I do not like to do 
it, and I don't know which is the better way. I have at present 
105 colonies, and expect to increase to 175 this season. I had 
about 2,000 of these sections, and am using them tor baits, and 
find them excellent in starting the bees to work in the supers. 

A. I have had much experience in getting the bees to clean 
up sections in the fall, and have found no better way than to let 
the bees rob them out. If you pile them up, as you suggest, allow 
an entrance large enough for a single bee for each 5 or 6 supers. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 213 

If the bees can get at them more freely, they tear the combs to 
pieces. With a sufficiently large number to be cleaned out, say 
something like a super for each colony, you may go to the other 
extreme and spread them all out so as to let the bees have free 
access to the whole business at once. I spread the supers about 
in my shop cellar, and when all are ready I open the door and in- 
vite all bees to help themselves. They are protected against rain, 
and may remain several days until the bees have them thoroughly 
cleaned out. If you pile them up on top of hives they will be 
cleaned up, but the bees are likely to put some of the honey back 
into the sections. Someone, I think, has reported success by 
piling supers back of a hive, allowing access by way of the bot- 
tom-board without allowing other bees access. I never tried it. I 
have tried putting them in front and it was a failure. It might 
work better behind. 

Selling Bees. — Q. When is the best time to sell bees, to get 
the highest prices? 
A. In the spring. 

Separators. — Q. Do you approve of the separators in supers? 
I have two supers of honey before me now, just taken off*, one 
with and one without the division-boards, and I find the bees 
have fastened the sections nearly all over to the board. 

A. I most certainly approve of separators for sections that 
are to be packed for shipping. If the sections are intended for 
home use; it is as well to have no separators. I have no trouble 
with sections being built to separators, but hives are level from 
side to side. Bottom starters help, too. 

Q. What separator do you consider best, fence or sawed 
wood? I ordered sawed wood, slotted top and bottom. 

A. All things considered, I prefer to use a plain wood separa- 
tor, sliced or sawed, with no slots or scallops. 

Sex of Bees. — Q. Does the size and shape of the cell in which 
the bee is reared have anything to do with the kind and sex of 
the bee? Or is it the food on which the larva is fed that deter- 
mines the sex and kind of bee, as the eggs that bring forth the 
three kinds of bees are all laid by the one queen? 

A. The sex of the bees depends upon whether the egg is fer- 
tilized or not. An unfertilized egg produces a drone, a fertilized 
egg a queen or a worker. An unfertilized egg in a worker-cell 
can produce only a drone; a fertilized egg in a drone-cell can pro- 
duce only a worker or a queen. Under normal conditions only un- 



214 dr. miller's 

fertilized eggs are found in drone-cells, and fertilized eggs in 
worker and queen-cells. The egg that produces the queen is prac- 
tically the same as the one which produces a worker; only the 
cell is enlarged, and the bees feed it throughout its larval exist- 
ence the richer food that is given to the worker larva during its 
first three days. 

Shade for Bees. — Q. Can bees be given too much shade in 
early spring? 

A. Yes; at that time it is better to have the sun shine on the 

hive at least part of the day. 

Q. Is it very necessary that a colony have shade during the 
heat of the day? 

A. Different views are held as to the desirability of shade for 
bees, some even saying that they are better without it. No doubt 
there is in this respect a difference in localities. In my own lo- 
cality I think they are better off with some shade. 

Q. Is there any danger of losing swarms if the hives are in 
too hot a place? Is it necessary to keep bees in the shade all the 
time ? 

A. There is great danger that a newly-hived swarm will de- 
sert if the hive is too hot. After it becomes settled and has started 
brood, the danger disappears, and a colony may do well without 
any shade. Yet in most places it is better that a hive shall be 
shaded in the heat of the day. A nice thing is to have a hive under 
a tree which shades it in the middle of the day, but allows the sun 
to shine upon it in the morning and evening. 

Shake-Swarming. — Q. What is meant by a shaken swarm? 

A. When the bees are shaken or brushed from their combs, 
and all the combs, or all but one of them, are taken away, that is 
called shaking a swarm, and the bees left in the hive are called a 
shaken swarm. 

Q. Last year I had a lot of trouble with runaway swarms. 
Can you tell me how to practice "shake swarming"? 

A. Lift the combs out of the hive, one after another, and 
shake the bees back into the hive, filling up the hive with empty 
combs or empty frames and when you have done that you have 
shaken a swarm. Of course, you must be sure that the queen is 
left in the hive from which the brood has been taken. You can 
make any disposition you like of the frames of brood taken 
away. They may be used to strengthen weak colonies, or you can 
use them to make new colonies. If used in the latter way enough 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 215 

bees must be left with them so the brood will not be chilled, un- 
less you live where it is so hot that there is no danger of 
chilling. The more bees, however, you can leave with the swarm, 
the better work it will do on surplus. 

Q. I would like to practice the shake-swarm method. What 
would be best to shake the bees on, empty combs, starters, or full 
sheets of foundation? 

A. Empty combs are probably best, and full sheets of founda- 
tion next. 

Q. It is impractical for me to stay at home and watch for 
swarms, so I must resort to artificial swarming or dividing — ■ 
probably the brush-swarm plan. At what stage of queen-cells 
should the swarm be shaken, when queen-cells are started without 
brood in them yet, after brood can be seen in them, or after they 
are capped over? 

A. Swarms may be shaken without paying any attention to 
queen-cells as soon as the season of swarming comes, or as soon 
as colonies are sufficiently strong. Some prefer to wait until a 
number of cells are found containing eggs or larvae. It would 
hardly do to wait till sealed cells are present, for at that time a 
swarm is likely to ensue. The presence of queen-cell cups with 
neither eggs nor larva in them need not be considered, for these 
may be found at any time, even in winter. 

Q. How far should a shaken swarm be set from the parent 
hive? 

A. A shaken swarm is left on the old stand. 

Q. In removing the old hive to a new location, and putting 
a new hive on the old stand, is it essential that the old queen 
should remain, or be shaken into the new hive on the old stand, 
or can she be put into the old hive on the new location? 

A. The queen is to remain on the old stand with the shaken 
swarm. The point is that the brood is to be taken away. 

Q. How did driving on capped-brood work with you in the 
control of swarming and securing honey? 

A. So far as I could see, giving sealed brood to a driven 
swarm worked just as well as giving foundation, and of course 
made a stronger colony. 

Q. I practiced the shaken-swarm method a little last summer, 
but some of them would swarm out again the next day. What 
was the cause of that? 

A. Possibly it was hot in the empty hive, and they swarmed 
out just as a natural swarm often does under the same circum- 
stances. A frame of brood may hold them. 



216 dr. miller's 

Shipping Bees. — Q. Will shipping bees cause queens to be 
drone-layers? 

A. When queens are shipped by mail in cages, it is not a very 
uncommon thing that they are somewhat affected as to their 
laying, but I don't remember that I ever heard of a queen being 
made a drone-layer by it, and I don't think I ever heard of a 
queen being seriously affected when shipped in a full colony. 

Q. Do I have to have my bees inspected before I can ship 
them? They are free from foulbrood. 

A. It depends upon the laws of the state into which you ship. 
Some states require inspection, and others do not. Whether they 
have foulbrood or not has nothing to do with the case; if the law 
requires inspection, all bees shipped into the state must be in- 
spected. Better have them inspected as a safeguard. 

Q. When is the best time to ship bees in the spring? 

A. In freezing weather the combs are somewhat brittle, and 
likely to break easily, and the bees do not stand a journey as well 
as when more active. When combs are filled with honey they are 
likely to break in transit, and if too warm there is more danger 
that the bees may suffocate. So the best time in spring is while 
the combs are mostly empty, any time after it is warm enough 
for the bees to fly nearly all day. 

Q. I am considering shipping bees in the fall, say 100 miles or 
more, and then giving them a good flight before putting them in 
the cellar. Do you think it injurious to their wintering well to 
ship them in the fall? 

A. If they have a good flight before being taken in the cellar, 
I should not expect any harm from the journey. The excitement 
of the journey, however, would make them eat a little more, so 
you would have to be a little more careful to see that they had 
stores enough. 

Q. How would you advise packing a colony of bees which is 
to be shipped by freight to New York from Texas in early spring? 

A. There must be good ventilation, and everything as firm as 
possible. You can make sure of the first by having a cover en- 
tirely of wire-cloth. Under this it may be well to have a sponge 
filled with water. If the frames are loose-hanging they must be 
made secure, either by nails driven down through the ends of the 
top-bars or by spacing with sticks. Put on written instructions 
for the hive to ride so the frames shall be parallel with the rails, 
a hand or an arrow to point toward the engine. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 217 

Q. I want to take a few swarms with me to Minnesota about 
July 30. The car will likely be on the road about a week. How 
shall I prepare the bees for shipment? (Illinois.) 

A. The frames in your hives must be fastened so they cannot 
move about, although that is not necessary if you have frames 
with fixed distance, as you probably have. If the entrances to 
your hives are two inches deep, closing them with wire-cloth may 
give all the needed ventilation. Otherwise better have the entire 
top covered with wire-cloth by means of a frame an inch or two 
deep. With only a few hives, you can have each one on the floor, 
kept in place by cleats nailed onto the floor. If the weather is 
very hot, sprinkle the bees with water every little while. 

Q. How about fixing bees in the hives to be shipped 1,500 
miles by rail? How shall I go about it to do a good job, so there 
will be no bees getting out, and how should they sit in the car — 
lengthwise? 

A. To make a good job of it is something of an undertaking, 
In brief, you will use wire-cloth for ventilation, having the en- 
trance closed with it, and having a frame the size- of the top of 
the hive covered with wire-cloth, which frame you will fasten 
upon the top of the hive with four wood-screws. You will put the 
hives in the car with the frames running in the same direction as 
the rails of the railroad, nailing strips on the bottom of the car 
so the lower tier of hives cannot shake about. You must not set 
the upper tiers of hives piled up directly upon one another, for 
that would stop ventilation; but over the lower tiers you will 
put 2x2 or 2x4 scantling, running across the car, on which to rest 
the upper tiers, thus leaving a space for ventilation. You will 
probably use a cattle-car, which favors ventilation; and you will 
see to it that you can get at all the hives to spray the bees with 
water when they become excited and heated. 

Shipping-Cases. — Q. Do you get shipping-cases returned? 
A. No. 

Shipping Comb Honey. — Q. I write for a little information in 
regard to shipping honey to Chicago, or other large cities. Is it 
necessary to enclose the snipping cases in extra strong boxes, or 
will they stand the rough handling without extra casing? 

A. If section honey is sent in shipping-cases without any 
outside protection there is danger that it may not go safely. No 
need to put the cases in heavy boxes that are close. Crates, or 
carriers, as they are called, should be used, which are more or less 



218 dr. miller's 

open, only close enough so they will hold the cases, the object be- 
ing not so much to cover the cases as to prevent rough handling. 
If cases are shipped without being in carriers, railroad hands are 
likely to throw them as so many bricks, putting them in the car in 
any sort of position. Years ago I shipped some cases loose in a 
car, to go a pretty long distance, and when they were transferred 
to another car some of the cases were on their sides, and, of 
course, badly smashed sections of honey was the result. A car- 
rier is generally made to contain eight 24-section cases, or sixteen 
12-section cases, and provided with handles. Being so heavy, they 
are necessarily handled with less roughness than would be the 
loose cases. Load in car so sections run parallel with the rails. 
If sections are sent in cases, unprotected, they take a higher 
freight rate than if packed properly with a layer of straw on the 
bottom. 

Shook Swarming. — Q. What do you call "shook swarming?" 
A. "Shook swarming" is bad English that has, I am sorry to 
say, grown into quite common use in place of "shaken swarms," 
or "shake-swarming." Perhaps a more appropriate name would 
be one used in Germany, "anticipatory swarming." (See Shake- 
swarming.) 

Smartweed. — Q. Will honey gathered from smartweed be 
strong in taste like pepper? Last year the honey gathered in the 
fall was so strong after being swallowed that it would burn the 
throat for two or three hours. Smartweed was plentiful. 

A. The general run of what is called smartweed honey will 
not smart your mouth at all. But the plant from which it is 
gathered hardly ought to be called smartweed, for if you chew 
the leaves it will not smart your mouth any more than to chew 
so much lettuce. It also goes by the name of heartsease — the 
better name, the botanical name being Persicaria. Persicaria 
punctatum is the real smartweed, and if you chew a leaf of that 
you'll wish you had let it alone. I don't know about the honey 
from this, whether it is acrid or not, but it is possible. 

Smoke. — Q. When is the best time to blow smoke in at the en- 
trance when opening a hive, on a cloudy day, or sunshiny day, or 
both? 

A. The time to blow smoke into the entrance is just before 
you take off the cover, no matter what kind of a day. 

Q. How long can you keep the hive open when handling bees 
without smoke? When they come to the top of the frames do 
you smoke them back? 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 219 

A. Maybe one smoking will do for all day; maybe two 
minutes. So long as the bees remain peaceable they need no 
more smoke. No matter if they do come to the top of the frames, 
so long as they remain good-natured, but when they begin to fly 
at you, give them enough smoke to make them behave. 

Q. How much smoke should I give a cross colony of bees? 

A. As in other cases, use as little as possible, but enough to 
subdue them. That isn't very definite, is it? Perhaps I might say 
keep on smoking so long as the bees keep darting out at you, 
and stop as soon as they beat a retreat. With most bees a very 
little smoke is necessary, and if you keep on smoking they will 
boil out and run over the sides of the hive at the top. That's too 
much. Some have reported bees of such disposition that smoke 
seemed to have little or no effect on them, if, indeed, it did not 
make them fiercer, and the only thing to do was to manipulate 
very carefully. Yours are hardly of that kind. 

Smokers. — Q. What size smoker is the best to use? 

A. I never saw a smoker too large, although with only one or 
two colonies you can get along with a small one. Sometimes you 
want a bigger volume of smoke than a small smoker will give, and 
you can use just as little smoke as you like with a large smoker. 
The large smoker holds fire better than the small one, and you 
can more easily have fuel to fit the large one. 

Q. At what time do you consider it necessary to use the 
smoker? Do you think too much strong smoke is injurious to 
brood and queen? I prefer using brush and veil as much as possi- 
ble. I am stocking up with selected Italians. Are not these the 
most gentle bees we have? 

A. If I were kee'ping bees merely for the fun of it, I might 
handle them without any smoker at all, and with very gentle ones 
it may never be absolutely necessary. Aside from quieting the 
bees, no good can certainly come from blowing smoke into a hive, 
and no more should be used than necessary. But as a matter of 
actual practice I generally give a puff at the entrance before 
opening each hive, and a little over the top as the cover is re- 
moved. I can hardly afford the time to go slowly enough without 
any smoke. Bees are like folks — they differ in disposition. 
Italian bees are very gentle in general, but there are exceptions. 
As a whole, they probably do not excel the Carniolans in gentle- 
ness. 

Smoker Fuel. — Q. What is the proper fuel for the smoker? 



220 dr. miller's 

A. Il s largely a matter of convenience. Any old thing that 
will burn is likely to answer all right, provided it is easily ob- 
tainable. Probably nothing is better than dry hardwood chips. A 
favorite with some is a greasy cotton waste that is thrown away 
after being used in machine shops or on automobiles or locomo- 
tives. Then there is bark, planer chips, cowdung, etc. 

Q. So far as using a bee-smoker is concerned, I am a novice 
in the business, and with poor success so far. I have tried news- 
paper, excelsior, and cobs broken up, but by the time I have the 
cover off and begin to raise the inside cover over the hive, or 
sections, the fire is out. What is best to use to make smoke? 
How should I use the smoker to keep the fire from going out? 

A. Try old rags of any kind of cotton cloth. First put a little 
loosely in the smoker; light it and let it blaze up; put a little more 
on and keep blowing till it gets a good start; then fill up and it 
will not be likely to go out till it burns out. When the smoker is 
not in use it will burn better to stand upright. Almost anything 
is better than newspapers. 

Q. Explain how you prepare saltpeter rags for smoker-fuel. 

A. I take a 2-gallon stone crock, perhaps half full of water, 
put in it half a pound or less of saltpeter, fill up with cotton rags, 
lift the rags out and let the water drain back into the crock 
through a colander or leaky pan ; spread the rags out on the grass 
for the sun to dry, and they're ready to use. I use them only to 
start the fire, filling up the smoker with hardwood chips 01 some 
other fuel. 

Snow. — Q. Can I put snow over the entrances of the beehives 
when the coldest, windy days come? 

A. It will be all right if the snow is dry. If the snow is wet 
and packs together it may smother the bees. 

Q. Is it necessary to keep snow and ice swept away from the 
entrance of hive? 

A. As long as it remains dry and hard, a little snow at the 
entrance is not likely to do any harm. But if it becomes wet and 
soft, filling the entrance and then freezing, it may do harm, so 
it should be cleared away before it has a chance to freeze. Not 
that there is special harm from the freezing, only that it allows 
the entrance to remain closed. 

Q. My colonies are buried under t lie snow. Will they smother? 
I have planer shavings on top to let the air through. 

A. Enough air works in through the snow so there's no dan- 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 221 

ger of smothering. But look out not to let the entrance become 
filled with damp snow and then freeze solid. 

Spider-plant. — Q. I notice in reading that there is a plant 
called spider-plant. Will it grow here? What time in the year 
should it be planted? (N. Carolina.) 

A. The spider-plant will probably grow with you if sown in 
the spring, but you will hardly find it worth the trouble. 

Spiders. — Q. Do spiders ever injure bees? 

A. Not to any great extent. If their webs are allowed at the 
entrance of a hive, a few bees will be caught and killed. 

Spraying. — Q. A man living a mile from me is going to spray 
his apple trees with Paris green this spring. Will my bees bring 
it home to their hives? 

A. If fruit trees are abundant, your bees may not go so far. If 
scarce, they will be likely to visit those trees when in bloom, and 
if he should spray during bloom it would mean death to the bees. 
But if he is an up-to-date fruit-grower he will spray only before 
and after bloom. The experiment stations have clearly settled 
that spraying during bloom is a damage to the fruit crop, and in 
several states it is against the law to spray during bloom. 

Q. Have you ever had any serious loss from poison being used 
to spray apple trees? (Illinois.) 

A. I think not; but I have some trouble with spraying in time 
of cherry bloom. The owner of a large cherry orchard is one of 
the best and straightest men in the community; but somehow he 
can't get it through his head that he is hurting himself by spray- 
ing when trees are in bloom, and he says if he doesn't begin 
spraying a little before the bloom falls, that he can't get through 
the whole in time. When as good a man as he is cannot see any 
wrong in subjecting me to serious loss for the sake of a little in- 
convenience to himself, it shows that no effort should be spared 
to have Illinois come to the front like some other states, with a 
strict spraying law. If I understand the matter rightly, a man 
lays himself liable to penalty if he puts out poison purposely to 
kill my bees, but if he poisons them accidentally while spraying 
fruit bloom he goes scot-free. 

Q. I am a beekeeper in a small way, having 64 colonies ; but I 
am going to have a hard struggle, as people here spray when the 
bloom is on as well as when there is none. Spraying fruit trees 
is the thing, but not when the bloom is on. It doesn't do any 
good to talk to people. If we haven't any law in the state, why 
don't the beekeepers go together and get a bill before our legis- 



222 dr. miller's 

lature against this spraying when the bloom is on? That is all 
that will ever stop it. 

A. You are quite right about the importance of a law against 
spraying, but I am sorry to say there is no law upon the subject 
in Illinois. A few years ago quite an effort was made in that di- 
rection, and a bill introduced in the legislature, but it was buried 
in committee. The trouble is that the chairman of the committee 
to which such bills are referred has always been a fruit-man 
rather than a bee-man. I wrote to the chairman of the committee 
at that time and he replied that fruit-men all knew that spraying 
fruit trees when in bloom was against their own interests, and so 
there was no law needed. Of course that looks reasonable; it would 
seem hardly necessary to have a law against a man building a 
bonfire under a live apple tree. All the same', there are ignorant 
orchardists, as in your neighborhood. I think that the real milk 
in the cocoanut is that those fruit-men, who are none too consci- 
entious, although they know it to be against their interests to 
spray during bloom, want to spray as near that time as possible, 
and don't want the risk of butting up against the law if they 
should happen to spray at a wrong time. 

Spring Protection. — Q. (a) I wish to give my hives spring pro- 
tection. I have read of roofing-paper or felt being used, but would 
not this plan do? That is, just get a dry goods box (which can be 
done very cheaply), and both sides and bottoms being made of 
matched lumber, take the top off, and invert the dry goods box 
over the hive, a sufficient hole for entrance being cut into the dry 
goods box to open over the hive-entrance? I figured on no pack- 
ing of any kind between the box and hive. 

(b) Would not ordinary oat straw covering over the hives, 
leaving an entrance, be good spring protection? Or would a 
wet spring keep the hives too damp? 

A. (a) Your plan may work, but the trouble is that when the 
sun shines out for a short time, or even for a long time, the bees 
don't get the benefit of it, the dry goods box keeping them cool; 
whereas, with the black felt they would be made warmer than 
with the naked hive. 

(b) It will be all right if some covering to shed the rain is over 
the straw, or if the straw is so placed as to shed the rain. 

Splints. — Q. What are your splints, for staying foundation? 
How are they used? 

A. They are splints one-sixteenth of an inch square, of bass- 
wood or some other straight-grained wood, about one-quarter 
inch shorter than the distance from top to bottom-bar. It would 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 223 

be better to have them touch both top and bottom-bar, but it 
would be more difficult to put them in. They are put in something 
like two inches apart, the two outer ones within half an inch to 
an inch of the end-bars. The splints are put in a dish of hot wax 
and left there till all frothing and bubbling ceases, and then they 
are lifted, one by one, by a pair of pincers, laid upon the founda- 
tion, which must be properly supported upon a board, and an as- 
sistant presses each splint into the foundation by means of the 
edge of a little board kept constantly wet. If put in while too hot, 
there will not be a good coating of wax on the splints. The foun- 
dation enters the groove in the top-bar and goes down through 
the bottom-bar, which is in two parts, the lower edge of the foun- 
dation being squeezed between the two parts. The advantage is 
that the comb is built down to the bottom-bar. You may like 
better, however, a plain bottom-bar, all in one piece. If, however, 
such a frame of foundation be given at a time when they are 
gathering nothing, the bees will gnaw a passage over the bottom- 
bar. 

Q. Where you use foundation splints and split bottom-bars, 
what kind of foundation do you use — medium or light brood? 

A. Medium gives good results, but light brood might be just 
as good with two or three more splints to the sheet. 

Q. (a) On page 393, of "Langstroth on the Honeybee," you ad- 
vocate the use of wooden splints to support wide strips of foun- 
dation. Do you use these splints in extracting frames as well as 
in frames for chunk honey? 

(b) Do you use splints opposite each other on the foundation, 
or do you use them on one side only? 

A. (a) I would use splints in extracting combs, but on no ac- 
count in chunk honey, unless the honey were afterward to be cut 
up on the lines of the splints and the splints taken out. 

(b) On one side only. 

Stimulation.— Q. What is the safest and best plan to pursue to 
stimulate brood-rearing in weak colonies in the spring, and how 
long before the honey-flow should one commence? (Wisconsin.) 

A. In your locality probably the safest and best thing is to see 
that the bees have abundance of provisions, and let them entirely 
alone, for more harm than good may be done by frequent feeding 
in catchy weather. But in localities where there is nice, warm 
weather for bees to fly, and nothing to get for a week or more, 
then it may be a good thing to feed a pound or so every other day. 

Q. Would uncapping a little honey every day be as good for 



224 dr. miller's 

stimulative feeding as syrup made from granulated sugar? There 
is plenty of honey in the hive, and I want the bees to build up so 
that they will be booming when the honey-flow comes on. 

A. Yes, and very likely you may save yourself much trouble. 
Every two or three days may do as well as every day. If the 
queen is laying all the eggs the bees can cover, it is hardly worth 
while to take even that trouble, for stimulating can hardly help, 
unless it be that it gets up extra heat in the hive. 

Stingless Bees. — Q. Is it true that stingless bees have been 
produced? 

A. There are stingless bees in South America, as has been 
long known, but they are not of value commercially. 

Stings (See Beestings.) 

Strawberries. — Q. Do bees gather honey from strawberry 
blossoms? 

A. I don't think bees get much honey from strawberries. 

Sugar. — Q. I want to know if all sugar sold for granulated 
sugar is cane sugar or will answer for bee-feed. How can I tell 
cane sugar from beet sugar? How can I procure cane sugar in 
rural sections like the hill towns of New England? 

A. I think that only a small part of the granulated sugar is 
made from cane sugar, and although I have tried very hard to 
learn some way in which cane sugar could be told from beet 
sugar, I am still in ignorance on that point. The British Bee 
Journal stoutly insists that beet sugar should not be fed to bees, 
but authorities on this side the water insist just as strongly that 
there is no possible difference between beet and cane sugar when 
it is made into granulated sugar. Certain it is that thousands of 
pounds of granulated sugar made from beets have been fed with 
good results. 

Sugar Candy. — Q. How do you make queen candy? 

A. Take a small amount of extracted honey warmed and work 
into it enough powdered sugar to make a stiff dough. Let it stand 
a day or longer, and if it becomes thin, work in more sugar. 

Q. Do you think soft sugar is as good to stimulate brood- 
rearing as syrup? Is it as good for winter stores? Is soft brown 
sugar all right for bees? 

A. I should think there would be little difference between 
soft sugar and syrup. But neither of them is as good as honey 
for brood-rearing. Brown sugar is good for bees at any time 
when they are flying, if they will take it; but syrup of granulated 
sugar is better for winter. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 225 

Sugar Syrup. — Q. How thin a sugar syrup may be fed to bees 
without danger of spoiling after taking into the hive? 

A. Early in the season, when the bees are flying daily, it will 
do no harm to feed them syrup just as thin as they will take it, 
say one part sugar to ten of water. And the same is true until 
fairly late in the season. As the weather begins to be cool toward 
fall, the syrup must be given thicker and thicker, lest the bees do 
not have time to evaporate it sufficiently, and as late as November 
it will not be well to feed a thinner syrup than two parts sugar 
to one of water, and two and one-half of sugar to one of water is 
still better. 

Q. In making syrup two to one in boiling water, after it is 
thoroughly mixed, is it necessary to put it on the stove to let it 
come to a boil? 

A. All that's needed is to dissolve the sugar, even if in cold 
water. 

Q. How would you prepare sugar syrup to feed in cellar, 
when it is absolutely necessary to feed in mid-winter to preserve 
from starvation? 

A. Just a plain syrup, two pints or pounds of water to five 
pints or pounds of sugar. Stir the sugar slowly into the hot water, 
and be very careful not to scorch it. But you might do better to 
make a plain candy and lay over the frames. 

Q. I have half a barrel of common syrup that is of no use to 
me. Would you let the bees have it in the spring? If so, how, 
and what time? 

A. Yes, there is generally a time in the spring when bees can 
fly every day but get little or no nectar. At such a time it will be 
well to feed such syrup. Either feed in the hive with a Miller or 
other feeder, or if you are situated where neighbor bees will not 
get the lion's share, you can feed in the open air in shallow dishes 
with cork chips on top, or some other arrangement to keep the 
bees from drowning. Open-air feeding may be a little the best for 
the bees — more like working in the field. 

Q. Will you please inform me what kind of acid is used in 
syrup to keep it from granulating? And how much of the acid is 
used to a gallon of syrup? 

A. An even teaspoonful of tartaric acid for every 20 pounds 
of sugar is stirred into the syrup about the time the sugar is dis- 
solved. The acid is first dissolved in a little water. 

Sumac. — Q. Does sumac yield honey? I removed some honey 
this season that had a greenish tinge. The comb fairly melted 



226 dr. miller's 

in the mouth. It is capped white. Could this have been sumac? 
The bees worked on it steadily for a week. 

A. Sumac is a fine honey-plant in some places. It is very light 
amber, usually. Your honey was probably sumac mixed with 
other honeys. Sweet clover honey has a greenish tinge. 

Sunflower. — Q. Is there any* honey in sunflowers, and, if so, 
could the common black bees get it? 
A. Yes to both questions. 

Supers, Examining. — Q. How often should supers be looked 
after, or rather, examined, as to how far they are filled? 

A. Every ten days is not far out of the way, generally, only 
make sure that they are never crowded so as to lack storing- 
room. 

Supers, Exchanging. — Q. If I take the supers from the parent 
colony and put them on the new swarm, will the bees that are in 
the field keep on working in the super? ^ 

A. Yes, there is danger of the queen going up if the supers are 
put on immediately after the swarm is hived, unless a queen- 
excluder is used. In the absence of an excluder, do not put the 
supers on for about two days, and in that time the queen will have 
made a start below and will not be likely to go into the super. 

Supers, Failure to Work in. — Q. I have five colonies of bees and 
they are doing well, as far as I can see, but they are not at work 
in the supers. What is the cause? What is the remedy, if any? 

A. There may be several reasons why bees do not work in su- 
pers. There may not be a sufficient flow to supply more than their 
daily needs. The colony may not be strong enough, and you must 
wait until it builds up stronger. The brood-chamber may not yet 
be filled, and the first care of the bees is to fill all vacant room 
below before storing in the super. Sometimes, however, the bees 
are slow about making a start in the supers, when they seem 
strong enough, with a good flow, and the brood-chamber filled. 
In that case you must put a bait in the super to bait the bees into 
it. Just how you will do that depends upon the character of your 
supers. If extracting-supers, then you can likely put into the 
super a frame of brood for a few days, or until the bees begin 
work in the adjoining frames. If you have sections in supers, 
then put in the center of the super a section that is partly built 
out, either empty or containing some honey. If you can do no 
better, you can cut out of one of the brood-combs a piece of brood 
or honey and put it in a central section. If that will not start them 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 227 

to work you may know that they are not strong enough to store 
in the super, or that there is not enough for them to store. Per- 
haps the ventilation is not good, and the supers are uncomforta- 
ble. 

Supers, Kind to Use. — Q. Which section super do you prefer, 
and would you advise plain or beeway sections, and which kind 
of separator? 

A. After a great deal of experience with different supers, I 
prefer the "T" super. A considerable experience with different 
kinds of sections makes me prefer the beeway, 4%x4^ix\%. In 
handling the plain sections, one must be more careful lest the 
fingers be thrust in them, and more careful lest they tumble over. 
A loose, plain wood separator serves well, is inexpensive and easy 
10 clean. 

Q. What objections, if any, do you have to the fence and Ideal 
super? 

A. Without mentioning any other objection, the fences are 
more troublesome to clean, and so are the plain sections that go 
with them, for it is easier to mar the honey in a plain section, and 
it topples over more easily when standing. 

Q. Which is the better for extracting, the full depth or the 
shallow super? 

A. Except for the inconvenience that they cannot be used in- 
terchangeably in the brood-chamber, the shallow frames are con- 
sidered better for extracting. The queen is less likely to go up 
into them, and their shallowness makes them easier to clean. 

Supers, Number for Each Hive. — Q. Would two supers be 
enough to get for each hive? 

A. You can get along, after a fashion, with only one super, 
but it is very poor economy to scrimp in the matter of supers. 
I: you mean extracting-supers of the same size as the brood- 
chamber, three would be better than two. For sections, I would 
not like to start in the season with less than six supers of 24 sec- 
tions each for each colony. 

Supers, Putting On. — Q. Is there any danger of giving a super 
too soon? 

A. Yes, if you should give a super a month before the harvest 
it would be making the bees keep up the heat unnecessarily in 
just so much more room. 

Q. If I put on the supers before the bees swarm, will that 
keep them from swarming? 



228 dr. miller's 

A. Sometimes it will; generally it will not. Giving plenty of 
room is one of the things that help to prevent swarming, but it 
is only a help, and not a reliable preventive. 

Q. When is the best time to put supers on hives? Do bees 
necessarily accumulate on the outside of the hive before 
swarming? 

A. The best time to put on supers depends a little upon what 
you may desire. If you are anxious for increase through natural 
swarming, it may be best to delay putting on supers till after the 
harvest is under way, for crowding the brood-chamber with honey 
will have the effect of starting the bees into the notion of 
swarming. Indeed, it would make a more sure thing of the 
swarming if no super should be given until after the bees have 
actual^ swarmed. Generally, however, the desire is for honey 
rather than swarms. In that case the super should be given be-* 
fere there is any danger of crowding the brood-chamber with 
honey. A little too soon is better than a little too late. One way 
is to watch the flowers from which the harvest is expected, and 
put on supers as soon as they appear in quantity. In your region 
white clover is probably the thing for you to watch. Another way 
is to watch the condition of the brood-chamber, and put on su- 
pers when the brood-combs begin to be crowded with honey. The 
old rule was to give supers when white wax begins to be plastered 
on the upper parts of the comb; a good rule in most cases, but for 
those who prefer not to have any swarming (even though it may 
be a rare thing for the bees to respect their wishes) it is better 
to have supers on before the bees get so far as to secrete this ex- 
tra wax. 

Q. When a super is nearly full of honey, is it best to put 
another super on top and let the bees get well to working before 
"under-supering ? " 

A. When a super is something like half filled and the prospect 
is good for a continuous yield, put a new super under. You may 
at the same time put an empty super on top, ready to be put 
next to the hive at the next shift. 

Q. In the early part of the honey-flow, in putting on extra su- 
pers, do you put them underneath those already on top? 

A. The second super is put under the first, and at the same 
time another empty is put on top. This last serves as a safety 
valve in case the bees should need more room. There is another 
important advantage. With the best care it will sometimes hap- 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 229 

pen that the upper starter will not be fastened securely its entire 
length, although this would not be noticed in ordinary handling. 
If such a section be put next the hive under another super, the 
bees will cluster upon it and drag it down. If it be put on top the 
bees will very gradually occupy that super, and will fasten the 
starter securely before any special weight be put upon it. In most 
cases the top super will not have much done in it, but will be 
ready to be put down as the lowest one, and a fresh empty super 
will be put on top. When the flow is on the wane some care must 
be taken not to have too many unfinished sections, and then the 
empty super is not put below, but if the bees need more room they 
can work up into the super on top. 

Q. When there is a good honey-flow, and two supers full of 
honey, would it be best to take the two supers off and put on the 
third on top of the two, so as to give the honey a better chance 
to ripen? 

A. With a good flow on, it will probably never happen that it 
will be good practice to take off the two supers that are on, and 
leave the colony with one empty super. For the bees should 
always have at least plenty, if not abundance, of room, and so a 
third super should always be given before the first two are ready 
to be taken off. In my own apiary, a good flow being on, a super 
is not often taken off before three or four supers are on, and in a 
few cases there may be as many as seven or eight on. When the 
first two are pretty well filled, a third super is given below them, 
and likely enough another on top. All this referring to a bee- 
keeper running for section honey. With extracted honey all may 
be left on until the close of each particular flow, if not to the close 
ot the entire season, or the honey may be extracted whenever it 
is ripe. The third super is generally given below, a queen-ex- 
cluder being used. But E. D. Townsend, a very successful bee- 
keeper, gives the empty super above, dispensing with the excluder. 
He says the combs filled with honey act as an excluder to keep the 
queen from going up into the empty super. 

Q. How high do you tier up? I am using the Townsend way 
by putting an extracted comb on each side, and sections in the cen- 
ter, and on some hives I use shallow extracting-frames filled with 
comb. I find these were one-half to three-fourths filled with honey 
by June 16, and have put supers filled with sections under the 
partly-filled ones. 

A. In a very poor season there will be no tiering up. In a 
good season, after the season has fairly advanced, there will be 



230 dr. miller's 

three or four supers on each hive, and from that up to seven or 
eight. But in the latter case the top and the bottom super will 
likely be empty, or nearly so. 

Q. With a full depth extracting-super, would it be any advan- 
tage to put the colony with the queen above the super with a 
honey-board between? Would the bees store honey in it at all? I 
thought perhaps the bees, having to pass through the super to get 
to the brood-chamber, they might store some honey earlier than 
otherwise. 

A. Bees prefer to store honey above their brood, and with 
room above, you could hardly expect them to store below. Yet 
ill a strong flow I have had them store in a story below. But they 
will not store below so soon as they will above. 

Supers, Removing. — Q. The super is now nearly full. Is it ad- 
visable to take it off? 

A. It is well to take away sections as often as a complete 
superful is ready, although it is hardly best to wait until the cor- 
ner sections are all sealed, for if you do so the central sections 
will have their cappings darkened.' The unfinished sections may 
be assembled from different supers into one super and- returned 
to the- bees to be finished. 

Q. I run my bees for extracted honey. How can I free the su- 
pers of bees without having to brush every comb? I do not care 
to use the Porter bee-escape board if there is any other way. 

A. You could use some other escape, as the Miller tent-escape. 
It consists of a robber-cloth with a cone of wire-cloth centrally 
located. The La Reese escape is favored by some. The Miller 
escape is put on top of a pile of supers after they are taken from 
the hives. 

Q. Is it proper to take off the supers in the fall of the year? 
(Arkansas.) 

A. In your latitude (36 degrees) it will probably do no harm 
to leave extracting-supers on the hive over winter. But it will 
not do to leave section-supers on the hive over winter in any 
climate, because the comb in the sections will be spoiled. Neither 
should the sections be left on until fall, unless the honey-flow 
continues until then. Just as soon as the bees stop storing in 
the sections they should be taken off. 

Supers, Space Below. — Q. How much space should there be 
between the brood-frames and supers, or board, if left on? 
A. About one-fourth inch ; less rather than more. 

Supers, "T." — Q. What is a "T" super? Looking up the cata- 
logs I find nothing except "T" tins in this line. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 



231 



A. A T" super is a plain box without top or bottom, one- 
quarter inch deeper than the height of the sections it is to con- 
tain. On the bottom, at each end, is a plain strip of tin to support 
one end of the sections in the end rows, and at the proper places 
staples are driven into the bottom and then bent so as to support 
the "T" tins inside. On page 19 of "Forty Years Among the Bees" 
is a picture of a "T" super, which is reproduced here. I'm sorry 




Fig. 24.— A T-Super. 



to say it doesn't show as plainly as it might what a "T" super is. 
The three "T" tins are shown loose, and you will see at the bot- 
tom of the super the supports for them, which are here squares 
of sheet-iron nailed" on. The bent staples are later, and perhaps 
a little better. 

It seems a very strange inconsistency that allows "T" tins to be 
listed in a catalogue and not the "T" super, for without the "T" 
super one will have no use for a "T" tin. For some reason, no 
manufacturer pushes "T" supers, and yet there are not a few who 
produce section-honey on a large scale who will have no others. 
As for myself, I have tried about all the surplus arrangements 
for section-honey that have been put on the market, some of 
them on a pretty large scale, and as yet have found nothing else 
to equal the "T" super. I have seen it condemned, but when I 
karned how it was used, without taking advantage of its best 



232 dr. miller's 

features, I don't wonder at its being condemned. I have no per- 
sonal interest in the affair; it is no invention of mine, but it is 
my deliberate conviction that at present there is no better super 
in existence that the "T" super. 

Q. Just how long ought the "T" super to be made inside? 

A. Mine are \1Y% long inside. I don't know whether any 
other length would do better. 

Q. I read that you use the "T" supers. I have a few regular 
supers on hand, but figuring how much furniture it takes, and the 
trouble to keep them clean, I thought perhaps this was your rea- 
son for using the super you do. 

A. My reason for using the "T" super is that I think I can 
produce section honey of fine quality with less labor and expense 
than with any other kind I have tried, and I have tried many 
kinds. I think very few who have tried the "T" super probably 
have given it up. Some who have condemned it have never used 
it properly. I know of no super that allows the same number of 
sections in more compact form. When four supers are on a hive 
— in a good season it is a common thing to have four to six supers 
on a hive — the distance from the top of the lower section to the 
bottom of the upper section is not more than 9J4 inches. It does 
not seem possible to invent any super that will allow the sections 
to be in less space, for no room is taken up with bars under or 
over the sections. In most other supers there is a bottom-bar un- 
der the sections, and in some a top-bar as well. In the latter case, 
even if top and bottom-bars be only one-quarter inch thick, the 
distance between upper and lower sections, instead of being 9J4, 
will be 11 inches. But a bottom-bar one-quarter inch thick is 
likely to sag, and even one-half inch may sag through warping. 
The 4 T" super has the advantage that the "T" tins are entirely 
rigid, with no sagging whatever. I might go on and tell how 
easy it is to fill the super with sections, and how easy to clean 
the sections. All these things, when properly done, set the "T" 
super at the head, in my judgment, as the best super for producing 
comb honey. Along with this is the fact that it costs less. 

Q. Will the "T" supers fit the standard hives? If not, I could 
not use them. 

A. A "T" super will fit any hive that is flat on top, which is 
pretty much the same as saying it will fit on any hive. My supers 
are rather short to fit my hives. I count that an advantage. 
Sometimes I want the super to be shoved just a trifle forward to 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 233 

allow a quarter-inch space for ventilation at the back rnd. When 
I don't want that ventilation I tack on the super at the back end 
a strip as long as the width of the hive, or the super, and about 
seven-eighths by one-half. That makes the super long enough so 
it covers entirely the opening at the top of the hive. The super 
being made just as wide as the hive, of course it will be wider 
for a 10-frame hive than for an 8-frame hive. 

Q. Do you use springs with the "T" super? If so, how many, 
what kind, and how? 

A. I use a single spring in each super, crowded in between the 
follower and the side of the super. It is the common super- 
spring sold by supply dealers, in shape something like the elliptic 
of a buggy. 

0. I think you spoke of driving the bent staples in level with 
the wood. If I understand it rightly, the T-tins are supported just 
the thickness of the staples above the bottom of the super. Am I 
right? 

A. The idea is to get the bottoms of the sections as nearly as 
possible on a level with the bottom of the super, but in actual 
practice that will vary, for in bending over and driving down the 
staple it will be sometimes embedded in the wood. 

Q. Are the thin strips of wood better than an extra set of 
tins at top of the sections? I was under the impression that the 
tins were better. 

A. The wood strips leave propolis only at the corners of the 
sections, while "T" tins on top would invite lines of propolis at 
some distance from the corners. The wood is probably easier to 
put in place, and it holds the sections square, w r hile a "T" tin on 
top would allow a little variation. Yet these differences do not 
amount to so very much. 

Super, Turned Over. — Q. Why wouldn't it be a good plan to 
have the super so that you could turn it over? Wouldn't we get 
better filled sections? 

A. Supers have been made to use in that way, but have never 
come into general use; perhaps because the advantage did not pay 
for the extra trouble. 

Supersedere. — Q. Is there any way to tell a supersedure 
queen-cell from a swarming cell, during the swarming season? 

A. There is no difference between a supersedure-cell and a 
swarming-cell, either in appearance or any other way. It may 



234 dr. miller's 

happen that the bees start to supersede a queen without swarm- 
ing, and then conditions for swarming turn so favorable that they 
swarm. Again, bees may prepare to swarm, when conditions for 
swarming turn so unfavorable that they give up swarming. In 
that case they may simply destroy the cells and allow the old 
queen to continue, or they may supersede the old queen. If, dur- 
ing the swarming time, you find queen-cells, you may be almost 
sure it means swarming. If cells are found somewdiat out of the 
time when most colonies are swarming, you can only make a 
guess in the case. If the number of cells is small — not more than 
three or four — and especially if the queen is old, it is likely to 
mean superseding. For swarming, a larger number of cells will 
generally be found. 

Q. Will a good colony supersede its worn-out queen, or is it 
not best to introduce a new queen at least every three years? 

A. Opinions are divided. It is possible that locality may have 
something to do in the case, as it has in so many other cases. In 
this locality it is as well to leave the matter to the bees, generally 
although it pays any time to supplant a poor queen with a good 
one, even if the poor one is only a month old. 

Q. In Doolittle's "Queen-Rearing," page 111, he sa> "To 

supersede a queen, hatch a young queen in an upper story over a 
zinc excluder, and after she is hatched remove the excluder, and 
your old queen is superseded." Will the plan work invariably? 

A. No; and 1 do not think Air. Doolittle claims invariable suc- 
cess. Remember that in the natural course of events every queen 
is superseded by the bees, and that such a superseding usually oc- 
curs somewhere in the neighborhood of the close of the harvest, 
Now, when any colony has a queen that it is about to supersede, 
if you will get in a little ahead by having over the excluder a vir- 
gin before one has been reared below, you may be practically 
certain of success. If you do the same thing earlier in the se< 
especially where a vigorous queen is doing duty below, you may 
expect failure. 

(J. Yesterday (Feb. 17) was the warmest day we have had 
here this winter, OO degrees in the shade for the greatest part of 
the day. I took my bees (ten colonies) out of the cellar for a 
flight, and found on looking them over that one colony had a 
patch of drone-brood about 3 inches in diameter, partly capped 
over on both sides of one comb. I found some worker-brood in 
the rest oi the hives, but this one had none. 1 found the queen, 
but she looked more like a virgin than a fertile queen. Do bees 
supersede their queen in winter? 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 235 

A. In the proper sense of the word I doubt that a queen is 
ever superseded ill winter. If a queen is lost, they may try to re- 
place her almost any time. Your queen is a drone-layer, and so 
worthies 

Q, What causes supersedure when everything apparently 

looks in good condition. September 2 I had a swarm go out, and 
upon examination of the hive L found that they had superseded 
their queen (which was of this year's stock), and there were also 
four other virgins in the hive. I knew it was too late for a profita- 
ble swarm, so I pinched the heads off of all but one queen, de- 
stroyed all remaining cells, and then put the swarm back in the 
same hive. Was this right? Everything is going along smoothly 
at this date (Sept. 5.), and the new queen is laying. 

A. You ask what causes supersedure when everything appar- 
ently looks all right. That "apparently" is probably the answer. 
A queen may he in some way at fault, whether a few days or a 
few years old, and you may see nothing wrong, hut some way the 
bees know about it. It is not entirely clear, however, from what 
you say, whether this was not a case of regular swarming, rather 
than supersedure. In any case, you did well to do as you did. 

Q. How is it that bees neglect to supersede their old queen 
when there are drones to mate with the young queen, as this has 
happened to me several times late in the fall? 

A. If I understand correctly, you have had queens die in late 
fall or early spring when there were no drones, and your question 
is why they didn't supersede them earlier, when plenty of drones 
were on hand? 1 don't know. It is possible that some accident 
may befall a queen, and of course the bees could not foresee this. 
It would seem that bees recognize the trouble when a queen be- 
gins to fail, and supersede her; and it is possible to conceive a 
case in which there was no sign of failure while drones were still 
present, but an unusually rapid failure after they were gone. The 
fortunate thing is that such cases are rare; nearly always a queen 
is superseded with abundance of drones present. 

Swapping Combs. — Q. Would what is called "swapping eombs," 
i. e., taking a frame of comb or foundation from the surplus-box, 
and exchanging it for a frame of brood, tend to get the bees to 
work in the super and also tend to prevent s wanning; 

A. It would tend to start the bees to work in the super, but 
would not do much to prevent swarming. 

Swarm-Box. — Q. How can I use a swarm-boa as mentioned in 
"First Lessons in Beekeeping?" 



236 dr. miller's 

A. A swarm-box being lighter than a hive, instead of carrying 
the hive to where a swarm is, the box may be taken there, and 
when the swarm is in the box it can be carried to the hive, laid 
upon its side with the open part of the box toward the entrance 
of the hive, so the bees can run from the box into the hive. If 
they are too slow about it they can be dumped on the ground in 
front of the hive by jarring the box on the ground. 

Q. What are the best noticeable signs just before swarming? 

A. The most reliable sign that bees meditate swarming is the 
finding of a number of queen-cells in the hive.. You may, how- 
ever, judge a little from outside appearances, if you find a colony 
ceasing work and loafing when other colonies keep on at work; 
and when bees return from the field laden with pollen and join the 
outside cluster without going inside to unload. 

Q. Last spring I bought a colony of bees and was very anx- 
ious to have them swarm. The first swarm issued July 13. July 
20 the mother colony swarmed again. This swarm covered six 
frames. On July 24 the third swarm issued from the parent 
colony. A week later I opened the parent colony and found that 
the bees had done nothing in the super. The body of the hive 
was full of honey, and I found three queen-cells. Two of these 
I destroyed. The cap of the third seemed loose, and soon the 
queen crawled out, at least I thought she was the queen, though 
she looked like any other bee. Do you suppose I have left the 
colony queenless? 

Swarm No. 1 has made lots of honey, while the other two 
swarms and the parent colony have made nothing. Had I better 
unite these, and how, or would it be better to give them frames of 
honey from the other hive? Should I get new queens for the two 
latter swarms and for the original colony? Should I go over the 
combs ever}' ten days and cut out queen-cells? 

A. There is nothing unusual in the program your bees have 
followed. The mother colony having sent out three swarms, has 
not bees enough left to do anything in the super, and all the bees 
aie crowded into the brood-ehaniber. Neither are the second and 
third swarms strong enough to do much, the first swarm being 
the only one strong enough to do super work. When a colony pre- 
pares for swarming, it starts quite a number of queen-cells, and 
you found what were left after the last swariu issued. It is not 
likely that your cutting out those last cells made any difference 
about swarming, for it is a rare thing for the fourth swarm to 
issue. You may or may not have made the colony queenless by 
cutting out the cells. You say the bee that came out of the 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 237 

cell looked just like any other bee. It is quite possible that it was 
a worker. Sometimes a worker crawls into a queen-cell after the 
queen has left it, although the capping of the cell looks as if the 
queen has not yet emerged. If that was the case, then the queen 
was left in the hive and the colony is all right. You cannot be cer- 
tain about the queen by the carrying of pollen. If you do not find 
eggs in th^ hive about 10 days after the last swarm issued, or at 
-least in two weeks, you may decide the colony is queenless, in 
which case you will give it a queen, unless you prefer to unite it 
with the weakest afterswarm. The chances are that both after- 
swarms have queens all right. The likelihood is that they will 
build up without any help from the first swarm, which can be left 
undisturbed at its work of gathering honey. Of course, if the bees 
do not gather enough for winter you will have to feed. It is not 
likely you will have any difficulty in telling a queen when you see 
one, by its greater size, especially length. No need to go over 
your hives for queen-cells now, after swarming is over. 

Swarm Prevention. — Q. Do you like to destroy all queen-cells 
but one, or clip the queen's wings for the prevention of swarming? 

A. To prevent a prime swarm, neither one will answer. De- 
stroying not merely all but one, but all cells, will generally delay 
swarming, and sometimes prevent it, but too often the bees will 
swarm in spite of cell killing. Clipping the queen doesn't have 
the slightest effect in preventing swarming. All it does is to pre- 
vent the queen from flying with the swarm, and when the bees 
find that the queen is not with them they return to the hive. But 
if the beekeeper does not interfere, the bees will swarm just as 
soon as a young queen is reared. 

Q. Will a young queen swarm out after she commences to 
layr I can't remember having had one do so where I knew the 
queen to be a young one. Some writers claim a queen never 
lays drone-eggs the first season, and I never found queen-cells 
started in a normal colony without more or less drone-brood in 
evidence. 

A. The answer to your question must be a little mixed. If 
you allow a young queen to be reared in a hive, you may count 
on no swarming before the next season. If you introduce a young 
queen, it depends. If the colony is in no humor for swarming at 
the time the queen is introduced, then no swarming. If in the 
swarming humor already, they'll swarm in spite of the tender 
youth of the queen. I once had a queen swarm in less than a 



238 dr. miller's 

week after being introduced, and she had been laying only about 
a week. If I had kept the colony queenless until swarming had 
been given up, and then introduced the young queen, it would 
have been all right. 

Q. There is usually a fairly good fall flow here of aster, 
goldenrod and buckwheat, and I would like to know if caging the 
queen in June or July to prevent swarming would be practiced at 
a loss in regard to fall honey. Would not the removal of the 
queen for ten days during June result in the loss of about 20,000 
bees, figuring 2,000 eggs a day, that would be ready for a fall flow 
August 15? 

A. You are probably overestimating the number of eggs laid 
daily. If we allow three-fourths of the frame to be occupied with 
brood, a queen laying 2,000 eggs daily would keep eight frames 
occupied. I don't think many queens do that when the season is 
so far along. Whatever is the right figure, it will be just so much 
loss in your honey crop. But the loss would likely be greater 
still if swarming were allowed. 

Q. How would you prevent swarming? I have 15 colonies and 
they do nothing but swarm. I give them supers with starters, 
and they will go up and fill two or three sections and then swarm. 
One of my colonies swarmed four times in a week and a half. 
What would you do to stop them from swarming? 

A. It is not an easy thing to prevent a first or prime swarm. 
Perhaps what will suit you as well as any way is to allow the 
first swarm to issue, and then prevent afterswarms in the fol- 
lowing way: Set the swarm on the stand of the mother colony, 
putting the old hive close up beside it, both hives facing in the 
same direction. A week later move the old hive to some new 
place six feet or more away. That's all; the bees will do the rest, 
and you are not likely to have any further swarming from a col- 
ony thus treated. 

Q. When bees swarm you say hive the swarm, place it in the 
place of the old hive close by, and a week later move the old hive 
away to its future place. If you follow this plan, will the old 
colony store any surplus? If not, will the swarm make up for it? 

A. Unless the season is very good there will be little or noth- 
ing stored by the mother colony, but the swarm will store more 
than both would have stored if the swarm had been put on a new 
stand and the mother colony left on the old stand. 

Q. Js the following method all right to prevent increase: Let 
the swarm issue, kill the queen and send the swarm back; wait 
seven days, then cut out all queen-cells but one. I tried this 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 239 

method with one colony, and it was quite successful. Will it al- 
ways be successful? 

A. The plan is good and will usually be successful; but 
sometimes you may miss a cell, and sometimes the only cell you 
leave may be bad. 

Q. If a young queen is given to a colony in the spring, will 
swarming be retarded, and if so, to what extent? That is, how 
much more crowding will they stand, or the reverse? 

A. If a queen that has been laying only a few days be given 
at the beginning of the swarming season, and if the colony has 
not yet made preparations for swarming, there is very little 
chance of swarming that season. The same is true to a greater 
01 less extent if the young queen be given earlier. I am not sure 
about the retarding, but the chances for swarming are greatly 
lessened by the giving of a young queen. When you ask me to 
tell just how much crowding they will stand, you're crowding me 
in too tight a corner. Fact is, I don't know. 1 think something 
depends upon the queen, and perhaps still more on the bees. With 
some bees, a vigorous young queen could probably not be forced 
to swarm by any amount of crowding, provided the queen were 
not given too early, and from that it will shade all the way down 
to where allowing only room for 25 pounds of honey might induce 
swarming. 

Q. What per cent of swarming do you have, in spite of all 
your preventatives? 

A. I count the prevention of swarming an unsolved problem. 
At a rough guess I should say that there may bt from 5 to 10 
per cent of the colonies actually swarm. But if they do swarm, 
nc swarm is ever hived as a separate affair, but obliged to remain 
in its old colony, for one of the important points in securing 
good yields is to keep from dividing the forces. 

Q. I want to tell you of a colony I have which swarmed on 
May 30, June 30 and July 30. Each time it was treated by the 
put-up plan. I want to ask what to do with this queen? She has 
swarmed out three times so far, and has made twice as much sur- 
plus in sections as any other colony I have. She is a nice, large 
queen, very prolific; but I don't like this thing of swarming. 
Would you breed from such a queen? I like her because she has 
such nice workers, busy all the time, and, as I stated, made me 
more surplus by far than any other colony. 

A. Generally, after a colony has been treated by the "put-up" 
plan, there will be no more swarming for the season, but you can 



240 dr. miller's 

never be certain of it. Yet it is a rare thing that a colony swarms 
a third time, as in your case. Yet I should not be much afraid to 
breed from such a queen if the colony greatly exceeds other 
colonies in storing. (See "Put-up Plan.") 

Q. To prevent swarming, I will shove the pile of supers back 
so as to make an opening of one-half inch for ventilation along 
the front. Will this prevent swarming and affect the storing of 
honey? 

A. Ventilating in that way is a help against swarming, al- 
though, of course, it will not prevent it. I have practiced it much, 
and never knew any harm to come from it in the way of chilling 
bees. The only harm is that sections next to the opening are de- 
layed in being finished, but not always. Instead of being shoved 
back, I shove the lower section-super forward. I have used the 
plan with extracting-supers, and "stuttered" them; that is, I 
shoved the lower super forward, the next back, the next forward, 
and so on. 

Q. If the queen is given plenty of room, will swarming be pre- 
vented, even though the hive be crowded with bees? 

A. It would certainly decrease the tendency to swarm, just 
as increasing the queen's room for eggs always does; whether 
it could be relied on in all cases as an entire preventative is hard 
t.> say without trying. I should rather expect it would, so long 
as fresh room for the queen is constantly given, and even when 
the flow comes and the lower hive is given above as an extracting- 
super, there ought to be little inclination to swarming, as in the 
case of the Demaree plan. 

Q. I kept my bees from swarming two years ago by placing 
the brood over the queen with an excluder between. When buck- 
wheat came on, I had my hives chock-full of bees. I also had sev- 
eral swarms in September, and that's rather late for Northern 
New York. I'd like to know how to stop them at that time. 

A. Yes, that's the plan given by G. W. Demaree, a Kentuckian 
who was prominent in the ranks some years ago. The plan is 
good and the pity of it is that it will work only for extracted, not 
comb. The brood-combs being put above become extracting- 
combs. To prevent swarming in September (which is not usual, 
1 think, but may come where there is a fall flow), it might work to 
try the same plan over again; extract the frames in an upper 
story, put them in the lower story with the queen, the brood 
above, excluder between. \\ this is done just as buckwheat be- 
gins, it seems it ought to work as well as earlier. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 241 

Q. I would like to ask some questions about the Demaree 
plan. You say just before swarming, put all the brood but one 
frame in a second story over an excluder, leaving the queen below 
with one frame of brood and empty combs or frames filled with 
foundation. 

Do you cut out all queen-cells at this time if there are any? 

Is it necessary to examine each colony in about ten days to re- 
move queen-cells afterwards? 

A. Yes, to your first question. 

As to the second, generally it ought not to be. The idea is that 
the bees are in the same condition as if they had swarmed nat- 
uially, of course, it sometimes happens that when a natural swarm 
i: hived it throws off a swarm the same season, but that is excep- 
tional. Some have reported that they never have a colony swarm 
that has been treated by the Dematee plan, while it fails with 
others. 

Q. I have four colonies in a house apiary I want to prevent 
from swarming. Would it do to add a hive-body with wired foun- 
dation below, as soon as the queen needs the room, then about 
three weeks before clover, or about May 20, put the queen below, 
then an excluder, then a super of shallow extracting-frames, and 
over all the old hive-body, with brood, and about June 10 remove 
the old hive-body from the top and put comb-honey super be- 
tween the extracting-super and the excluder? Provided I give 
ample room, w T ould that be likely to prevent swarming? 

A. Unless your bees are unusually "forward looking" they 
may be behind time on the program you are laying out for them. 
You say add a hive below "as soon as the queen needs the room," 
and evidently expect her to need it so early that she will have the 
brood-nest extended into the lower story by May 20. Maybe she 
will. At any rate it will do no particular harm to have the empty 
story below. Suppose there is nothing doing below, and May 20 
you put the queen on the foundation under the excluder. In too 
many cases the queen will swarm out, unless you put something 
in the way of bait below. At any rate, I've had them swarm out. 
Suppose, however, that the brood-nest is started below, or if not, 
that you give a frame of brood. The bees will go to work all 
right (you must look out for cells in the old brood above) ; they 
will fill up the lower story, and then swarm. Not always, but I 
should expect it to happen a good many times. . They will not be 
so certain to swarm as if you had let them alone, nor will they 
swarm so soon. But you have operated so early that you may 
expect more swarming than you want. The later in the season 
you give the queen that empty story below, the more certain you 



242 dr. miller's 

will be to have no swarming. Put it off just as long as you can 
without having the bees actually swarm. If you wait until cells 
are started, and then operate, destroying the cells, you may feel 
pretty easy about swarming. Some report it a perfect preventive. 
You propose to put a comb-honey super under an extracting- 
super. That will be all right if the extracting-combs are nice and 
white. If black from brood-rearing your sections may be black- 
ened. 

Q. Will you please explain Mr. Allen's system for swarm pre- 
vention that he gave to the readers of the Bee Journal several 
years ago? If it really has any merit, will you kindly reproduce 
it in the Journal? 

A. If you will turn to page 94 of the American Bee Journal 
xor 1910, you will find the plan given by A. C. Allen, as follows: 

"When the honey-fiow is well started, I go to each strong 
colony, regardless of whether the bees desire to swarm or not, 
and remove it from its stand, putting in its place a hive filled with 
empty combs, less one of the center ones. Next, a comb contain- 
ing a patch of unsealed brood about as large as the hand, is se- 
lected from the colony and placed in the vacant place in the new 
hive ; a queen-excluder is put on this lower story, and above this 
a super of empty combs, this one having an escape hole for 
drones ; and on top of all, an empty super. A cloth is then nicely 
placed in front of this new hive, on which the bees and queen are 
shaken from the combs of the parent hive, and the third story is 
filled with the combs of sealed brood and brood too old to produce 
queens, and allowed to remain there and hatch, returning to the 
working force." 

This is really the Demaree plan, which was given to the public 
many years ago, by G. W. Demaree, a prominent Kentucky bee- 
keeper at that time. Mr. Allen has varied it by putting a frame 
with some brood in the lower story, whereas I think Mr. Demaree 
had only empty combs, or combs with starters in the lower story. 
Mr. Allen's variation is of value, for I think there were cases re- 
ported in which the bees swarmed out with no brood in the lower 
story. Mr. Demaree put all the brood in the second story, while 
Air. Allen puts it in the third. I don't know which is better. 

Mr. Allen says "the third story is filled with the combs of 
scaled brood and brood too old to produce queens." I hardly un- 
derstand that, for he says nothing about putting brood elsewhere, 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 243 

and generally most of the combs would have at least some very 
young brood. 

The plan is a good one for extracted honey, but not available 
for comb. 

Q. The other day a book came to me from a friend in Mis- 
souri. It was Dr. Jones' book on how to prevent swarming. What 
do you think of the plan? 

A. I think that shaving off the heads of all sealed brood will 
b( likely to prevent swarming; but I don't suppose many would 
want to use such a plan. 

Q. In the American Bee Journal for November, 1914, page 
385, the plan given by J. E. Hand on swarm control and the in- 
crease problem looks possible, and I would like to have your opin- 
ion of it. I note he uses 16-frame hives. Do you think the plan 
will work with the 10-frame hive? He says take six frames from 
each colony at the close of the basswood harvest and give them 
to the nuclei. But that will not be necessary, as I can build a 
2-frame nucleus into a full colony by winter. Is it necessary to 
wait until each colony has made preparations to swarm, or can 
it be done just before the swarming season? 

A. As a rule, it is not well to attempt any changes on any 
plan given, but to follow out exactly instructions. A plan that 
succeeds with 16 frames might be an utter failure with .a less 
number. 

When colonies in general are making preparations for swarm- 
ing, it will usually be all right to operate at that time upon other 
colonies that have made no such preparations, provided they are 
strong; for some colonies make no preparation for swarming 
throughout the entire season. 

Q. In the September issue, 1914, page 310, is an article by C. 
F. Greening on "Controlling Swarming," which I find most valu- 
able. I wish to ask a few questions concerning it. 

(a) It being supposed the colony is a strong one, and of course 
no queen-excluder being used, will the queen always lay eggs in 
the super added to the brood-chamber "as soon as it becomes 
warm" in the spring? In case bhe does not, this plan is doomed 
to fail at the very start. 

(b) In case she does not come to lay in the super, what shall 
I do? 

(c) Would this plan work with large brood-chambers, such as 
the Dadant, the Quinby, or the Massie hive, which has a double 
brood-chamber of a capacity equal to 14 Langstroth frames? 
With such large hives, how can I make sure the queen will lay 
eggs in the first super added in the spring? 

A. (a) I don't think you can always be sure of the queen 



244 dr. miller's 

going above to lay, especially if the hive be very large; but the 
plan is not necessarily doomed on that account. 

(b) Take a frame of brood out of the brood-chamber and put 
it up. 

(c) You seem to think that an essential part of the plan is for 
the queen to go up to lay in the story above. If that be so, then 
a very large hive would not do. But I hardly think that is essen- 
tial. If I understand Mr. Greening aright, he wants brood always 
above, with plenty of room for the bees to store between that and 
the brood-chamber. The large size of the hive would not inter- 
fere with that. Indeed, if I am not mistaken, with the very large 
hives used by the Dadants they have very little swarming, even 
without keeping brood above. 

Swarms, Cause of. — Q. I have noticed that the colony that 
keeps its brood-nest free from honey is not apt to swarm. Is this 
in line with your observations? 

A. Certainly we know that when the queen is crowded for 
room it tends toward swarming. The more honey crowds into or 
encroaches upon the brood-nest, the less room the queen has for 
laying, and, it would seem not unreasonable to argue, the greater 
inclination to swarming. 

Swarms, Hiving. — Q. In "Root's A, B, C and X, Y, Z," page 
553, 1913 edition, "a frame of unsealed larvse" is thrust into the 
bees of a swarm, so that they may crawl upon it. Are unsealed 
larva? better than sealed for this purpose? 

A. As between sealed and unsealed larva?, if you have either 
kind alone, I think sealed would work better than unsealed. 
When, however, you take a frame having unsealed larvae, you gen- 
erally have sealed too. 

Q. In hiving a swarm, do you put them in at the top, or the 
bottom of the hive ? 

A. It doesn't matter so you get them into the hive, but gen- 
erally you will find it easier to get them into the hive at the bot- 
tom, as bees of a swarm naturally incline to crawl upward. 

Q. Is it best to put a swarm on the old stand? Where would 
yon put the old hive? 

A. Yes, unless yon want at'tersw arms. The old hive should be 
put close beside the hive containing the swarm, and a week later 
moved to any place yon like, ten feel or more away. 

Q. It a swarm lights on the grass and you do not happen to 
see the queen, how would you hive them? 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 245 

A. Set the hive on the ground with the entrance close to the 
bees, put a few at the entrance, and let the rest follow. 

Q. I have just started in beekeeping. I keep my bees in a large 
attic. Having only one colony, I would like to get another swarm 
started in swarming time. Can they be made to go into another 
hive while swarming? 

A. Of course a swarm can be hived in any hive, just the same 
as if the bees were on the ground instead of being in an attic. 
What you probably mean, however, is to have the bees enter the 
hive of their own accord. That can be managed, too, just the 
same as if the bees were on the ground. Have the queen's wing 
clipped. Then when the swarm issues catch and cage the queen, 
move the old hive to a new place and set the new hive where the 
old hive stood. The swarm, having no queen, will be sure to re- 
turn within a few minutes, and finding the old hive gone, will 
enter the new one sitting where it left the old one. As the bees 
are entering the hive, free the queen and let her run into the hive 
with them. 

Q. In hiving a swarm where only the queen and not quite two 
frames of bees can be captured, should the division-board be used 
as in nuclei, and about how many frames of comb or foundation 
should be given them? 

A. A division-board is not needed, but it is better to have a 
dummy ; that is, a board like a division-board, but having a space 
all around. The hive may be filled at first with combs, or you may 
give only one comb more than the bees can cover, adding others 
as they are needed. 

Swarms, Issue of. — Q. What time of the day do bees swarm? 

A. The prime swarm, which issues with the old queen, gener- 
ally comes off somewhere between 9 and 12 o'clock. An after- 
swarm, having a virgin queen, is more irregular, and may issue 
earlier or later, in some cases as early as 6 in the morning, and 
a< late as 4 or 5 p. m. If a morning is very hot, a swarm may come 
out early. If the day should be rainy, and clear off rather late in 
the afternoon, a swarm may come then. 

Q. Do bees find a home before they swarm? 
A. Often, and perhaps generally. 

Q. Are there any indications to tell when the first swarm will 
issue? 

A. Yes; when a colony decides to swarm it starts a number 



246 dr. miller's 

of queen-cells. About the time the first queen-cell is sealed the 
swarm issues. 

Q. Will a swarm fly out before a queen-cell is sealed? 
A. Sometimes; but generally not. 

Q. When a swarm issues from a hive, does the queen go out 
first? 

A. No; she may be among the last. 

Q. When several swarms issue at once, if the queens are 
clipped, will all the bees go back to their own hive? 

A. As a rule each bee will return to its own hive. In a large 
apiary, however, it sometimes happens that there will be some 
mixing, part or all of the bees of a swarm being attracted by the 
noise of a returning swarm that had previously issued. 

Swarm, Kind of Bees in. — Q. When bees swarm, which leave 
the hive, the young or old, and are they forced out by the remain- 
ing bees? 

A. Bees of all ages are in the swarm, and they go out without 
any forcing. 

Swarms, Late. — Q. Is a swarm worth hiving after the last of 
May, and how late are they worth saving? 

A. In my locality nearly all swarms issue after the last of 
May. A good swarm is worth saving, no matter how late it comes. 

Swarms Leaving. — Q. How far will a swarm go off to a tree? 

A. Nothing definite about it. They may go a few rods or a 
few miles. They are likely to go to the nearest place where they 
can find a suitable lodging. 

Q. Is there any way to stop a swarm of bees that is passing 
by you, going to the woods? If so, how? 

A. Some have reported success by flashing upon the swarm 
the reflected rays of the sun by means of a looking-glass. Per- 
haps the most reliable thing is to throw upon the bees a strong 
spray of water, since this may hit the queen and make her fall to 
the ground. 

Q. Please tell me how to keep the bees of a swarm from 
swarming out again. I lost several swarms this summer by their 
swarming out. They were put in new hives that I bought two 
years ago. 

A. Years ago it was more or less the practice to wash out the 
hives with this or that under the notion that certain odors made 
it attractive to the swarm put in it. Nowadays nothing is wanted 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 247 

but a clean hive. Your hives were, no doubt, all right, but it's a 
pretty safe guess that the bees were uncomfortable for all that. 
Either they were too warm or had too little air. Likely both. 
When you hive a swarm see that it has abundant ventilation. 
Give it as large an entrance as you can. If practicable, it is a 
good plan to raise the hive an inch or so from the bottom-board 
by putting blocks under the corners. Shove the cover forward so 
as to make an opening of half an inch, or an inch, at the back 
end. After two or three days you can lessen the ventilation if 
you think best. The hive should be in a shady, airy place. If you 
cannot give shade in any other way, cut an armful of long grass, 
put it on the hive, lay two or three sticks of firewood on it to 
keep it from blowing away. Some make a practice of giving a 
frame of brood to the swarm. The bees think that it is such a 
good start toward housekeeping that they are unwilling to leave it 
without great provocation. 

Some secondary swarms leave because their queen has not 
yet mated, and they follow her when she goes out for her wed- 
ding flight. Nothing will hold such swarms except killing the 
queen. Then they would return to the parent hive. 

Swarms, Moving. — Q. When is the best time to move a swarm 
after it is hived? 

A. Right away after you get the bees of the swarm in the 
hive. Don't wait to get a few scattering bees in; they can find the 
swarm where you put it, or else they can go back to the old hive. 

Swarm, Prime. — Q. How long after the prime swarm issues 
forth does the young queen hatch? 

A. Ordinarily the first virgin leaves her cell about a week 
after the issue of the prime swarm. If, however, the swarm be de- 
layed a day or more by bad weather, then the time of her emerg- 
ence after the swarming will be lessened a day or more. It may 
also be increased in case the prime swarm issues before the first 
queen-cell is sealed. 

Swarms, Returning. — Q. W T hat is the best manner of return- 
ing a swarm to the hive from whence it issued, so as to make it 
stay, no further increase being desired? 

A. It doesn't matter how you return the swarm; it will stay as 
well for one kind of returning as another. It is the condition of 
things in the hive that decides whether the swarm will issue 
again, and it isn't the easiest thing in the world to prevent it. The 
old-fashioned way was to return the swarm every time it issued, 



248 dr. miller's 

and if you don't mind the amount of work involved in returning 
it half a dozen times or more, the old way is good. Here's another 
way you may like better : When the swarm issues, return it and 
kill the old queen. A week later destroy all queen-cells but one. 
Ii you miss no cells there ought to be no more swarming. If } r ou 
hive the swarm in a box and wait twenty-four hours before re- 
turning it to the mother colon}^ there will be more likelihood of 
it remaining than if returned at once. 

Q. My prime swarms invariably, after I hive them, leave the 
hives and return to the parent colony. My hives are all new and 
up to date, and I can't account for this. If you can cast a little 
light on this subject it will be appreciated. 

A. That's just the way my bees do, and it's a good deal better 
than to have queen, bees and all going off to return no more. The 
reason my bees do so is because the queens' wings are clipped so 
they cannot go with the swarms, and when a swarm finds out the 
queen is not along there is nothing for it to do but to return to 
the old home. Of course, I don't know anything about it, but as 
you have things "all new and up to date," my guess would be that 
you have lately begun beekeeping and have bought colonies with 
queens whose wings have been clipped. If that isn't the right 
answer, then I don't know what is the answer. It occasionally 
happens, where queens are not clipped, that a swarm returns be- 
cause something has happened to the queen so she cannot fly, 
but to have it happen "invariably" with whole wings is something 
beyond me. 

Swarms, Second. (See Also Afterswarms.) — Q. After the first 
swarm issues, how soon can I look for another? 

A. A second swarm usually issues about eight days after the 
first, but the time may be less, and it may be more. The issuing 
o^ a prime swarm is sometimes delayed by bad weather, and it 
may be delayed by the queen failing for some reason to go with 
the swarm. 

Swarms, Sprinkling. — Q. Do you think best to sprinkle bees 
with water before putting them in the hive when they swarm? 

A. It is not a general custom, but if there is fear that the 
swarm will go off, sprinkling will help to prevent it. 

Swarms, Value of. — O. Will a new swarm gather any surplus 
honey the first season ? 

A. Yes; as a general rule the swarm is the one to rely on 
for a crop, it being put on the old stand after removing the old 
hive to a new stand. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 249 

0. "If a swarm in July 
Is not worth a fly, 
Can anybody remember 
What they are worth in September?" 

A. "A swarm in May is worth a load of hay; 
A swarm in June is worth a silver spoon ; 
A swarm in July is not worth a fly." 

That jingle must have been made for some locality with which 
I have no acquaintance. Taking it, however, at its face value, if 
it teaches anything it teaches that the worth of a swarm as the 
season advances is a constantly diminishing quantity. In July it 
gets down to the zero point, after that it becomes a negative 
quantity, by September becoming a great deal less than nothing. 
And that might be literally true at the time the doggerel was 
composed, when all that was done with a swarm was to dump it 
into an empty box or skep and leave it to its own devices. For 
the swarm would be worthless, and the mother colony would be 
damaged by the exodus. It is possible that in the present instance 
there was an exception, and that the flow was so hea\y and con- 
tinued so late that, left to themselves, the swarm might have 
built combs and stored enough for winter. In localities where 
there is a dearth in July and a second crop in August and Septem- 
ber, a September swarm will be better than a July swarm, as it 
may fill its hive from the fall blossoms, while the July swarm 
would starve before the second crop opened. 

Swarms, Where From. — Q. If a swarm comes forth, and you 
don't see w T hat hive it comes from, is there any way to tell what 
hive it comes from? 

A. Take a bunch of bees away from the swarm, dredge them 
with flour, and watch to which hive they fly back. Of course, you 
may also be able to make a good guess by looking into the hives 
and finding one which has a scarcity of bees. If you investigate 
the matter promptly you may find in front of the mother hive a 
number of very young bees, unable to fly, who have been dragged 
out by the rest of their comrades and are trying to get back. 

Sweating of Bees. — Q. Do bees sweat if covered too. warm? 

A. They are more likely to sweat when too cold, if you may 
call it sweat. Moisture is coming from the bees all the time, and 
is. the walls of the hive are cold, the condensed moisture settles 
upon them, and may run down and out of the entrance, and this 
is sometimes called sweating. The worst of it is when the mois- 



250 dr. miller's 

ture collects overhead and drops down upon the cluster. Cover- 
ing up warm helps prevent this. 

Q. What makes bees sweat in the cellar in winter? Mine are 
all wet. I put them into the cellar just as they were in the sum- 
mer. 

A. The moisture from the breath of the bees settles on the 
cold walls of the hive, just as we say a pitcher sweats when a 
pitcher of cold water stands in a hot and moist time and the 
moisture of the air settles on the outside of the pitcher. It is a 
bad thing to have this moisture settle on the hive-cover, for then 
the drops fall on the cluster of bees. The matter may be helped 
by enlarging the entrance, by allowing a little crack at the top 
for the moisture to escape, or by having some kind of warm pack- 
ing on top. 

Tar Paper. — Q. Is tarred paper injurious to bees and honey? 

A. Not in general. If honey were kept for a time directly in 
contact with paper strongly impregnated with tar, it would 
probably hurt the flavor, but wrapping tarred paper around a hive 
would not produce any such result. 

Q. Would it pay to wrap hives in tar paper for spring pro- 
tection? I see some favor it, while others do not. Why is there 
this wide difference? 

A. There is a wide difference in climate. While it might not 
pay in the far South, it might pay well in the far North. Locali- 
ties differ. Your apiary may be in an exposed place, where the 
wrapping mentioned may be of great service in warding off the 
chilly blasts of spring, while another apiary a mile away may be 
in such a warm corner that the wrapping is not so much needed. 

Q. How can I protect my bees after putting them out of the 
cellar, with tar-paper. And how should it be put, when taken 
off, and what is accomplished for the benefit of the bees? 

A. Whatever protection of the kind is given should be given 
just as soon as possible after the bees are taken out, as it is likely 
to be colder then than afterward. .The time for taking off de- 
pends upon the weather; no harm to leave it on until fruit-bloom, 
or even till the first bloom is seen on clover. The advantage is 
that the bees are kept warmer, especially cold nights. Just how 
much that advantage is, it would be hard to say, no reports being 
yet given as to comparative results with and without protection. 

Tartaric Acid. — Q. Will you tell us the result of your experi- 
ence in mixing tartaric acid or other acids with sugar syrup for 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 251 

winter stores? I haven't had time to experiment in this, and this 
fall I followed Prof. Cook's advice, according to his book and 
put an even teaspoonful of tartaric acid into 15 pounds of syrup. 
I think this amount of acid is altogether too much for the amount 
of sj-rup. I believe much less acid in proportion would keep the 
syrup from crystallizing. The bees evidently do not like it. 

A. Some years ago I had considerable experience in feeding 
up for several winters with tartaric acid in syrup. I used an even 
teaspoonful of acid for 20 pounds of sugar. I think it worked 
all right. How much acid that would be to a given weight of 
syrup depends on the strength of the syrup. For winter feeding I 
used five pounds of sugar to two of water, and that made a tea- 
spoonful of acid to 28 pounds of syrup. Prof. Cook's teaspoonful 
of acid to 15 pounds of syrup looks just at first glance as if he 
made it about twice as strong with acid as I did. Whether he 
really did so depends upon the strength of the syrup. Referring 
to Cook's Manual, edition of 1902, page 266, where he mentions an 
even teaspoonful of acid to 15 pounds of syrup, it will be seen 
that he says : "We use equal parts of sugar and water." With the 
proportion of a teaspoonful to 20 pounds of sugar there would be 
a teaspoonful to 40 pounds of half-and-half syrup. That, against 
this 15 pounds of syrup, shows that he made it two and two-thirds 
times as strong as I did. Mine seemed to be strong enough. Of 
late years I have used no acid. If I fed at all I gave them half- 
and-half syrup in August or early September, and the bees made 
it all right without any acid. I cannot help thinking this is better 
than later feeding with acid. My feeders are becoming idle capi- 
tal, as the pasturage has so changed that a fall flow may always 
be counted on. 

Q. Yesterday (Dec. 30.) I was examining the colonies I am 
wintering in the cellar, and I found one that I concluded had 
starved. There was about 12 pounds of sugar in the combs can- 
died hard. My record shows that on September 20 this colony had 
about 15 pounds of honey. I fed them 20 pounds of sugar syrup 
with one ounce of tartaric acid to each 10 pounds of sugar. I am 
afraid some of the rest of my bees will go the same route. One 
dislikes to lose them after feeding and giving them the best care 
one can. I have read of some who feed sugar syrup without using 
acid, and do not have any trouble, and it seems that there is 
little or no trouble where acid is used. Last fall some of my 
bees were carrying out candied sugar a week after I fed them. Is 
it possible that I have not been making my syrup right. The way 
I made it was to place a boiler of water on the stove and let it 
come to a boil, then add the acid and stir it well. I then set the 



252 dr. miller's 

boiler off the stove and stirred in the sugar. I used two pounds 
of sugar to one of water. 

A. I must say there is something I don't understand about this 
sugar-acid business. There are those who, as you say, insist that 
no acid is needed, and they are very emphatic about it. A very 
few say that the sugar hardens in spite of the acid, and you are 
one of the unfortunate few. The time and manner of feeding 
may have something to do with it. If you feed as early as August 
or the first of September, and use more water than sugar, I don't 
believe acid is needed. Even if you feed heavier syrup, if you 
feed it slowly, there should be no trouble. But with late feeding 
of thick syrup, I should feel safer with the acid. I hardly see 
v/hy you should fail; you used more acid than I ever used, and 
I never had any trouble, although I have had much experience. 
Still it is possible that the mode of proceeding may have some- 
thing to do with it, and I'll tell you how I proceeded, when I fed 
late with heavy syrup : Water was put into a vessel on the stove, 
and when at or near the boiling point, sugar was slowly stirred in 
at the rate of 5 pounds of sugar to a quart of water. The stirring 
was continued until the sugar was dissolved, so that the sugar 
might not settle to the bottom and be burned. When the sugar 
was dissolved, an even teaspoonful of tartaric acid for every 20 
pounds of sugar, previously dissolved in water, was stirred into 
the syrup, and it was taken from the fire. I would hardly sup- 
pose that your reversing the order would make any difference, 
still it might. 

Toads. — Q. I have seen a frog or toad on the alighting-board 
of the hive, close to the entrance, late in the evening, just when 
the bees have clustered on the outside these warm, dry days and 
nights. I did not see the toad eat any bees at this time, but I 
wonder if he doesn't. 

A. Yes, there has been a good deal of testimony that frogs 
and toads eat bees. Toads are such useful creatures in the gar- 
den that they may pay for eating a few bees by the number of 
injurious insects they destroy. 

Q. How do you keep toads from eating bees? 
A. Perhaps no better way than to raise hives so high that 
toads cannot reach the entrance. 

Tongue of Bees. — Q. Are there long-tongued bees? I can 
hardly swallow that. I think that is only a selling point for those 
who have queens for sale. I have a few colonies, and I intend to 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 253 

get a few queens this summer, so if there are any with spliced 
tongues, that is the kind I am after. 

A. There can be no sort of question that there is a decided 
difference in the length of bees' tongues. Able men on both sides 
of the ocean have settled it by actual measurement, and at least 
some of them have no possible interest in giving anything but the 
truth, unless they are bribed outright to lie — a thing that, for one, 
I cannot believe. But don't make the mistake of thinking that 
the bee with the longest tongue must necessarily be the best bee. 
Other things being equal, the bee with the longest tongue is the 
best bee. But other things are by no means always equal. The 
bees that still store the most honey are the best bees, whether 
their tongues are long or short. But when you succeed in get- 
ting the best storers, it is just possible that they may excel in 
tongue length. 

Top-bars. — Q. What width of top-bars do you prefer, 1% or 
1 1-16? Is there any practical difference? I expect to make a 
number of hives, and want to get them right. 

A. I am using V/% inches with good results. 

Q. Do you believe that a half-inch thick brood-frame top-bar 
will tend to prevent the bees building burr-comb on such frames, 
as well as *the three-quarter inch top-bar? Which kind do you 
use? 

A. I do not believe that the one-half inch will prevent burr- 
combs quite as well as the three-quarter. Mine are seven-eighths. 

Trade Marks. — Q. How can a trade mark be obtained for la- 
beling honey when working up a trade? 

A. A trade mark is registered by the Government at Wash- 
ington, D. C, in order to be able to protect it in case of infringe- 
ment or copying. For the details to be followed in securing such 
registry, better consult a good lawyer. 

Transferring From Box-Hives. — Q. When is the right time to 
transfer bees from box-hives to modern hives, and how? 

A. Wait until the bees swarm (in your locality they are likely 
to swarm in May), then hive the swarm in an up-to-date hive and 
set it on the old stand, setting the old hive close beside it. A week 
later move the old hive to the opposite side of the swarm, and 
then two weeks later still, or three weeks from the time of 
swarming, when all the worker-brood will be hatched out, break 
up the old hive and add its bees to the swarm. Then you can 
melt up the old combs. 



254 dr. miller's 

Q. How do you like putting a hive with one frame of brood 
over the colony to be transferred, and a queen-excluder between, 
when you catch the queen in the upper hive? 

A. It will work all right. Here is something you may like 
better : Drum out all the bees, putting them in the new hive on 
the old stand, with a frame of brood, put on an excluder, and 
then the old hive. In 21 days the worker-brood will be gone from 
the old hive above and it can be taken away and the combs melted 
up. 

Q. When transferring bees, will it hurt to have the old hive 
wrong side up until the brood hatches? 
A. No. 

Q. Will the following plan work well for transferring? Say 
I have five colonies in box-hives and wish to transfer, and I go 
to a hive to be transferred and smoke and drum out all the bees 
into the frame-hive except some to care for the brood that is in 
the hive at this time, which we suppose is in May or June; after 
which I set the old hive, for say five days, with its entrance 
closed over the frame-hive^ and with a wire-cloth between. After 
five days I replace the wire-cloth with a queen excluder, which I 
let stay for fifteen days, or one day before all the brood is 
hatched, then I put on an escape-board in its place; and when 
they have all gone down, take the old hive off, sa^e 3IJ the good 
combs, and melt the others. 

A. Yes; only it is hardly necessary to leave the wire-cloth as 
long as five days. Likely two days would be long enough — just 
long enough for the queen to get started laying below. Indeed, 
it might work all right to give the excluder at the start, and the 
less time the wire-cloth is left the better it will be for the brood 
above it. 

Transferring From Movable-Frame Hives. — Q. Will you please 
tell me how to transfer bees from one hive to another? The hive 
they are in is poor, and I would like to get them into one with 
9 frames. 

A. Just exactly how it should be done, provided the bees are 
now in a frame hive, depends upon the size of the frame now in 
use compared with one to which you wish to transfer them. If 
the frame is shallower than the old one, you will cut down the 
comb so as to make it the right depth. If the new frame is 
deeper, put the comb in, and then cut pieces to wedge in on top, 
01 which may be more easily managed, turn the comb so the 
present top and bottom may be at the sides, and then cut the 
comb just deep enough to go in the frame. Before taking out 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 

the first frame from the old hive, have an empty frame "ready for 
it. Lay some strings on a table or something of the kind; on 
these strings lay the empty frame, then after putting the comb in, 
tie the strings. Of course, the strings must be laid in such a way 
that they will be distributed along the length of the frame, per- 
haps six or more of them, each string independent of the others. 
When you take out the first frame, brush the bees from it before 
cutting, and put it in its hive, after tying. Then move the old 
hive from the stand and put the new one in its place, and after 
that brush the bees into the new hive each time you take out 
another frame. 

Q. Last fall I purchased three colonies of bees in home-made 
hives of the Langstroth pattern. I found that the frames were 
badly made, so that the combs were crooked — in fact, they zig- 
zagged in every shape. I left them just as they were, fed the bees 
steadily all winter, and they are good and strong now; but will 
not get more honey than enough to feed themselves through the 
coming winter. I would like to get these bees out of the old 
hives. Would vou advise transferring them at this time (August 
3)? 

A. Perhaps it may be as well to leave them as they are till 
next spring or swarming time. Still, it may be all right to trans- 
fer this fall, if you are sure of a good fall flow after transferring. 

Traps. — 0. Is it necessary for a beginner to use a drone and 
queen trap? 

A. No; and the advanced beekeeper gets along very well 
without it. 

0. If I use an Alley trap on a hive and the colony should 
swarm while I am away for a few T days, will they stay around or 
near the hive any length of time, or will they leave if not hived 
the same day 

A. The trap holds the queen, and when the swarm finds it has 
no queen it will return. 

Trees. — Q. What kind of trees, other than fruit trees, can bees 
work on ? 

A. Oh, my! A whole lot more; more than I can tell you, and 
more than I know. A few are linden, locust, poplar, eucalyptus, 
maple, banana, black mangrove, wild cherry, etc. 

T-Tins. — Q. What is a T-tin? I see in the American Bee Jour- 
nal the way to make a T-super, but I do not understand what is 
meant by the T-tin. 

A. A "T" super has no bottom, but to support the sections 



256 dr. miller's 

has three" tin supports running crosswise. Each of these is made 
of a piece of tin so folded that a cross section looks like a "T" up- 
side down. You can buy T-tins of supply dealers for about a cent 
apiece, probably much cheaper than you can get a tinner to make 
them for. (See Super, "T.") 

Q. How high up between the sections do your T-tins come? 
Don't you have to saw a place for them in the separators? 

A. Some of my T-tins are three-eighths and some one-half 
inch high. Either does. No place is sawed in the separator, 
which rests directly on the T-tins. It would be bad to have the 
separator come down lower. 

Q. I am informed that you use nothing but the T-tin in your 
comb-honey supers. It looks to me that they should be the best 
all around, but they say that the weight of honey will make the 
tins give or bend. What is your experience? The bees glue the 
wood-holders very tight in this locality. The wood separators are 
also troublesome. 

A. Whoever they are that "say that the weight of honey will 
make the tins give or bend," it must be that they have never seen 
a T-tin, or else they are poor judges of the strength of ordinary 
tin. On the contrary, it would take a much greater weight to 
bend a T-tin than to bend any wooden support in use in supers. 
Remember that there are two thicknesses of tin standing one-half 
inch upright. I have had 3,000 T-tins in use for many years, and 
have never known one to be bent the slightest by the weight of 
honey. It would probably be all the same if the honey were five 
times as heavy. 

Tupelo. — Q. From where does the tupelo honey come: 
A. Tupelo (also called Gum) is a tree of the south. It is espe- 
cially abundant in Florida, where it yields quantities of honey. 

Uniting. — Q. Is it advisable to unite a strong colony with a 
weak one in July or August, or wait until spring? 

A. If the one colony is quite weak, or if you are not anxious 
to save the queen, then you had better unite in the fall, since 
there is much danger that a weak colony will not winter through. 

Q. What kind of perfume is sprinkled over bees when uniting 
two colonies to make them of the same odor? 

A. I think peppermint has been used, and anise, cloves, or any 
other perfume might serve the same purpose. 

(.). How will it do to use a line spray of water to unite be 
I don't believe it would do very well, but don't know. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 257 

Q. How will it do to sprinkle with flour when uniting bees? 

A. It is practiced a good deal in England, but for some reason 
not much in this country. I think some have reported favorably, 
and some not. 

Q. If, in the spring, one should have a number of weak colo- 
nies, could they be united with stronger ones and not have any 
fighting? 

A. If you put two colonies together without any precaution, 
each one having its own queen, there is danger of fighting. A 
great many times I have safely united by taking one, two or three 
frames with adhering bees from one colony and simply placing 
beside the brood-nest in another hive. A safe way is to place 
one hive over the other with a common sheet of newspaper be- 
tween. The bees will gnaw a hole in the paper and gradually 
unite peaceably. 

Q. What is the best way to unite weak colonies? Shall I kill 
the queen, or will the bees do that? 

A. The bees will destroy one of the queens, but it may be 
better for the beekeeper to attend to that job. There will be more 
peaceful uniting if one colony has been queenless for two or 
three days. 

Q. (a) How do you work the newspaper plan for uniting two 
swarms ? 

(b) I have never seen it tried, but I presume one of the queens 
would have to be destroyed. What would be the proper way to 
manage it? 

A. (a) It is a very simple matter. Take a sheet of common 
newspaper, spread it over the top-bars of the one hive. Of course 
the bottom-board will be under the lower hive, and the cover 
over the upper hive. There will be no sort of entrance or opening 
into the upper hive, and no bee can get out of it until the bees 
gnaw a hole through the paper. Within a day or so they will 
gnaw a hole in the paper big enough for a single bee to pass at a 
time and the bees will pass through and mingle so slowly and 
quietly that there will be no quarreling, gradually tearing away 
more and more of the paper. In a few days or a week you can put 
all the frames of brood in one story. 

(b) If there is any choice of queens, kill the poorer, otherwise 
the bees will take care of the matter themselves. It is better if 
the lower hive remain on its old stand. 

Q. When uniting, do you leave any combs in the hive above 



258 



DR. MILLER S 



the newspaper, or do you use an empty hive-body so the bees will 
go down quickly? 

A. It doesn't matter whether empty combs are left in the 
upper story or not. The bees will unite just as quickly with or 
without them. Of course, after the bees have had time to unite, 
the two stories are reduced to one, the best combs of the two 
stories being selected to fill one story. 




Fig. 2."). — Two colonies united by the newspaper plan. 



Q. I have just read about your way of uniting two colonies 
by putting paper between them. Did you ever try putting a 
queen-excluding honey-board between them? 

A. Yes, I have united with an excluder between the two colo- 
nies. It is much the same as having nothing between the two 
stories. In some cases — perhaps in most cases — bees will unite 
peaceably when one hive is set directly over the other, with no 
excluder between. In sonic cases, of course, they would unite all 
right with an excluder. But too often it happens that if one hive 
is set over the other without any precaution, there will be a se- 
vere fight. In that case I " doubt if the excluder would do any 
good. But the paper will. There is no possibility, with the paper, 
that one set of bees can fall upon the others en masse. It will 
take a bit of time for a hole to be made in the paper that shall 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 259 

let a bee through, and for some time there will be passage for 
only one bee at a time. In the meantime the two lots of bees are 
getting the same scent, ready to unite peaceably. At any rate, 
I've had one lot of bees killed when there was no paper between, 
and I'm not sure I ever had fighting when the paper was used. 

Q. I have 50 colonies of bees in dovetailed hives, and want to 
keep but 25, spring count. How and when can I double them up? 
what should I do to keep the frames of larvae and honey? And 
how may I keep the frames of comb during the winter? 

A. Better wait till next spring to unite. *If you unite this fall, 
there may be some casualties in winter, and you would not then 
have your 25 in spring. Even if you are sure of no winter losses 
in your mild climate, there are advantages in waiting till spring. 
There will be no question about care of combs through the winter, 
and by doubling 50 full colonies in the spring you are likely to 
have 25 stronger colonies than if the doubling were done in the 
fall; and 25 very strong colonies will take no more care than 25 
weaker ones, and will store more surplus. 

Uniting Swarms. — Q. Is it better to unite two swarms and 
make one big swarm out of two? And will I get more honey 
from one big swarm than I would get from two small ones? 

A. You will be more likely to get more honey from uniting. 
In places where a strong flow continues very late, more honey 
may be had from the two kept separate. 

Q. I would like to know the best way to double swarms up. 
If they both come out the same day, or a day or two apart, should 
I put the old colony on top of the new swarm? Should I take 
the bottom out of the top hive, or how can I get them together? 

A. If they are only a day or two apart, the easiest way is to 
hive the second one in the same hive as the first, just as if the 
hive were empty. 

Q. When hiving two swarms should I sprinkle or smoke them 
to make them go in the entrance? 

A. If you dump them at the entrance they will enter of their 
own accord, without smoke or sprinkling. 

Q. What is the best way to unite a swarm direct from the 
tree with a weak colony? I have just shaken it in front of the 
hive, but many of the bees were killed at the entrance of the hive. 

A. Perhaps if you had shaken the bees off the combs at the 
entrance, so that the two lots of bees would run in together, there 
would have been less trouble. If one lot has an old queen and 
the other a virgin, they do not unite so well. 



260 dr. miller's 

Value of Bees. — Q. How much is a colony of Italian bees in a 
modern hive worth, including super, sections, etc., in the spring, 
summer or fall? 

A. There is no hard and fast rule about this, although the 
variation may not be so great as with box-hives. It may be from 
$J to $10 in the spring, and $2 or $3 less in the fall. 

Q. (a) What could I afford to pay for ^ swarm of bees hang- 
ing where they clustered, if it was the first that issued from the 
hive? 

(b) What would a good, strong colony be worth if it was in 
an old box-gum? How much if it was in a movable 8-frame hive? 

A. (a) So much depends. One swarm may have two ar three 
times as many bees as another, even when both are prime swarms. 
In some places you might get a swarm for a dollar from someone 
who got little from bees and in another place an experienced bee- 
keeper might not be willing to sell such a swarm for five times as 
much. 

(b) Again there would be a great variation. A colony in a 
movable-frame hive might be worth in some places $7 or more, in 
other places $5 or less. 

Ventilation. — Q. What is the best way to ventilate the hive? 

A. It doesn't matter so much just how you ventilate, so you 
give ventilation enough. One way is to raise the hive by putting 
a block under each one of the four corners. I generally ventilate 
by having a very large entrance and an opening at the back end 
of the hive on top letting the super come far enough forward to 
make the opening. 

Q. Does a hive need ventilation if in the shade? If so, would 
it need it when the temperature gets up to 90 degrees in the 
shade? How low can the temperature get before it needs shut- 
ting down? 

A. Yes; I once had combs melt down in a hive so thoroughly 
shaded that the sun did not shine on it all day long; but there 
was a thicket on one side and a cornfield on the other, so that 
there was little chance for the air to stir. A colony must have 
ventilation to some extent always. At any time when the bees 
are busy gathering there should be sufficient ventilation so the 
bees will not hang out. An entrance equivalent to nine square 
inches is as little as should be allowed, and if that cannot be had 
otherwise, the hive should be blocked up. But 20 square inches of 
ventilating space is better than nine. There is no need to make 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 261 

any change when the temperature runs up to 90 degrees, nor 
when it runs down on cold nights. 

Q. Do you use ventilation under supers, or open at the top 
through the summer? 

A. Generally, with section-supers, I have ventilation at the 
back end, between the hive and lower super, and sometimes in 
the cover of the hive as well. In a cool time, however, it is bet- 
ter to have the ventilation closed, for sections at that part are 
not finished so soon. 

Q. In your text-book you give a plan of ventilating the upper 
stories by shoving them forward and back, leaving a _space at one 
end. Does the rain not get in through the space i 

A. I suppose it does, but it never seems to do any harm, being 
at the end. At any rate, the harm is overbalanced by the good. 

Q. How is the best way to ventilate hives in winter? 

A. In the cellar it matters little how, provided there be enough 
ventilation and there is no danger of having too much. For- 
merly, with box-hives, a good plan was to turn the hive upside 
down, with no covering over it. That left it all open above and all 
closed below. Of course, no sort of hive ventilation will avail 
if the air in the cellar is impure. For outdoor wintering, the en- 
trance may be three-eighths by six inches for a strong colony, 
and less for a weak one; besides this opening at the entrance, 
some cover with some sort of packing that allows a little air 
slowly to pass upward. Others leave the cover sealed down as the 
bees left it in summer and fall. But in this case the top must be 
warmly covered. 

Q. What do you think of ventilation at the top of a hive in 
winter? Is it important, and, if so, would it not be proper to 
cut a 2-inch hole through a quilt and place the cloth cushions 
filled with cork chips on top of this? I use table oilcloth for 
quilts in summer and winter. Is there anything better? 

A. There is a decided difference o'f opinion as to the matter 
of upward ventilation in winter, some reporting success with 
sealed covering, others reporting disaster. In either case it is 
important to have warm covering overhead for outdoor wintering. 
You are on the safe side not to have all sealed tight, and the plan 
you propose may work all right. I used oilcloth, same as you, 
for years, but for many years past have had no covering over 
brood-frames except the hive cover, and this method I like better. 
But it must be remembered that I winter in the cellar. 



262 dr. miller's 

Vinegar. — Q. I am told that good vinegar can be made from 
honey or cappings. Will you give how much honey or cappings to 
each gallon of water and how to proceed to make it? 

A. Use one to one and one-half pounds of honey to each gal- 
lon of water. Dissolve the honey and place in a barrel with the 
bung removed, so as to give as much air as possible. The warmer 
the place it is stored the better, as this will hasten fermentation. 
If you use capping washings for making vinegar, a good way to 
test if the water is sweet enough is by the use of an egg. If the 
tgg comes to the surface of the liquid, then it is about right. To 
hasten fermentation, you may also add a little vinegar mother, if 
you have it, to your sweetened water. Full instructions may be 
found in most beebooks. 

When you test honey water with an egg the egg should show 
only the size of a dime out of the water. 

Waste Places. — Q. Does anyone know of something that could 
be sown in waste places where irrigating water runs, or where 
Bermuda grass now grows that would produce honey and also be 
good for the farmer? There are several places here where Ber- 
muda grass grows, when it gets the waste water from the ranches. 

A. Sweet clover has been very successful in such cases. 

Water for Bees. — Q. What do the bees do with the water they 
get in the mud-holes? 

A. The same as they do with water from any other source; 
they use it for drink and to thin their honey, for feeding the 
brood. 

Q. We have an apiary where an irrigating ditch runs right 
along in front of the hives, but the bees go over to our neighbor's, 
about 80 rods away and get water from their watering trough, 
and they annoy them very much, as the stock can hardly get any 
water to drink on account of the bees. What could we do to help 
out our neighbor? 

A. When the bees have formed the habit of going to a certain 
place for water, it is a very hard thing to get them to change to 
some other place. If the trough is not too large, it may be cov- 
ered up by boards, sheets, or otherwise, opening it only at certain 
times in the day to let the stock drink. After a few days the bees 
will give it up. Possibly you may be able to make the place 
offensive for bees while still all right for the four-footers. Put 
carbolic acid or kerosene on the edges of the trough where the 
bees stand to get the water. Of course there is the danger that in 
doing this you will get some of the stuff in the water, so the stock 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 263 

will not drink it. As in so many other things, prevention is bet- 
ter than cure. In the spring, when bees first begin to get water, 
do all you can to prevent their getting a start in the wrong place, 
and to start them in the right place. In a sheltered place where 
the sun will keep it warm, put a tub or pail of water, throw over 
i: some cork chips, such as grocers get as packing in kegs of 
grapes, and you will have a watering place where no bees will 
drown, and all you will need to do will be to fill up occasionally 
with water. Once started there, the}' will be likely to continue. 
One would be likely to think the bees would prefer the nearby 
irrigating ditch to the water trough farther away. But bees do 
not object to a considerable distance, and it is possible that the 
trough gives better footing for the bees, and that the water in 
it is warmer than in the ditch. 

Water for Bees — Cork Chips. — Q. What size of cork chips do 
you use in water to keep bees from getting drowned? Also, about 
how thick is the layer of corks on top of the water? I am trying 
to get cork chips here. I can get granulated cork, of which I have 
samples, Xos. 2, 3 and 4. Watering bees in this locality is quite an 
item. My 75 colonies get away with as high as 60 gallons per day. 
I have to haul it all. I have been using a large trough filled with 
brickbats, but the brickbats take up almost all of the space. I 
also tried second-hand corks (cut them up), but in a few days the 
water would be foul; mostly wine corks. I am sending samples 
of cork chips. Should they be finer, or coarser, etc? (California.) 

A. I don't believe it makes so very much difference as to the 
size of the cork chips, although I suppose the finest chips will 
lose their buoyancy soonest. Neither does it matter greatly as 
to the depth of the layer, only so it be not so thin that the bees 
will sink down into the w T ater, nor so thick that they cannot reach 
the water. The chips I have been using are those which the 
grocers receive as packing in kegs of grapes that come in winter, 
or at least very late in the fall. The chips are of various diame- 
ters, from very fine ones, up to those that are one-eighth inch or 
more in diameter. A layer about three-quarters inch deep is 
first used, and more added later as they become soaked. The idea 
i- to have enough chips so that the top surface will be a little out 
of the water. Although I never tried that size, I suspect that the 
coarsest you send (something like one-quarter inch in diameter) 
would be ideal. 

Water, Bees Near. — Q. (a) Would bees be likely to do well 
near a large bod}' of water, or would they be likely to fall into the 
lake ? 



264 dr. miller's 

(b) On which side of a lake would you prefer to keep — east or 
west side? 

A. (a) The water is not likely to do any harm, only it is just 
so much surface without any pasturage, just like so much barren 
land. If the body of water was so narrow that the bees would 
cross it to get pasturage on the other side, a few bees might be 
beaten down in crossing by high winds. 

(b) The side that had the best pasturage. 

Wax (See Beeswax.) 

Wax-Extractor. — Q. How can I make a solar wax-extractor 
without much expense? Does the solar wax-extractor take out 
all the wax, especially out of old combs? 

A. Any kind of a shallow box, and of any size, covered with 
glass, so placed that the rays of the sun shall shine directly into 
it, will become hot enough on the inside to melt wax. A single 
pane of glass will do if large enough, or a common window-sash 
may be used. To hold the pieces of comb to be melted, have a 
plain sheet of tin, slanting 1 to 3 inches (according to the size of 
the box) from rear to front, so that the melted wax will run 
down into a vessel that you will place under to catch the wax. 
You may use a sheet of wire-cloth, so the wax will run through. 
This will work very nicely with cappings and burr-combs, but a 
good deal of wax will be left in old brood-combs. Especially will 
this be so if one brood-comb lies over another. 

Weak Colonies. — Q. Would it be all right to put a new swarm 
in with a weak colony and thus make a strong one out of it? 

A. Yes; but in thus uniting, the two queens should both be 
laying queens, or both virgin queens. If one has a laying queen 
and the other a virgin, they are likely to fight. 

Q. I have two colonies of bees which I hived last May. One 
of them produced about 50 pounds of surplus honey, while the 
other produced only 5 pounds. What was the matter with the 
second one? Was it an unprolific queen, or not? 

A. It may be that there was a difference in the strength of the 
two swarms at the time they were hived, and it must be remem- 
bered that a colony twice as strong as another will store a good 
deal more than twice as much surplus. The difference may have 
been in the character of the bees. Some bees are more indus- 
trious than others. There may have been other causes or a com- 
bination of causes. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 265 

Q. If you should find your bees weak in the spring in numbers, 
what would be the best way to strengthen them? 

A. If I found a colony very weak in early spring, I wouldn't 
try to strengthen it. I would unite it with a stronger colony, or 
else I would wait till other colonies were so strong that they had 
at least six frames of brood each, and then I would swap its 
fiame of brood for one from another colony. The frame taken 
from the weak colony would likely not be very well filled with 
sealed brood, and the one given should be well filled. Afterward 
more brood could be added, when the sealed brood had pretty 
well hatched out. 

Q. In putting frames of capped brood into inferior colonies, 
is it not of importance to put in first one, or may a greater num- 
ber be put in? I imagine that the surface of brood must be pro- 
portionate to the number of bees in a colony relatively weak. 

A. You must use caution or you may have a lot of dead brood. 
If all the brood in the comb be sealed, and if it be old enough to 
bt hatching out, then very little care is needed, for such advanced 
brood will keep up its own heat nearly as well as the mature bees. 
But you will seldom have such combs, and if there be considerable 
unsealed brood, or brood that has been sealed only a short time, 
then there must be enough bees in the hive to cover it well. One 
way to avoid chilling is to take the frame of brood with the ad- 
hering bees. Only if you add too many strange bees you may 
jeopardize the queen. Let the strange bees never be more than 
half as many as the bees already in the weak colony. 

Q. As a rule, every beekeeper has some weaklings in his yard, 
I don't care how much attention he gives them. To strengthen 
them, what is your plan, to swap frames, or go to strong colonies, 
give them a good shaking and leave them with the queen and one 
frame of brood in the hive on the old stand, and put the rest of 
the brood under the weak colony? Very likely there would be 
queen-cells started. 

A. Early in the season the former plan ; at the approach of 
swarming, the latter. 

Q. Did you ever practice the strengthening of a weak colony 
by reversing the hives, respectively, of a weak and a strong col- 
ony? As you seem to understand German, I will state that Ber- 
lepsch recommends this during a "volltracht," which, I suppose, 
means "full-flow." This looks very easy, only may be too late for 
securing full advantage from the strengthened colony. 

A. I think I never tried strengthening in that way. There is 
danger of the death of the queen in the weaker colony unless in 



266 dr. miller's 

a time of full flow, and strengthening of weak colonies generally 
occurs before the heavy flow, or after it. 

Q. What do you think of Mr. Alexander's spring management 
of weak colonies? What would you advise me to do to save the 
weak colonies in the spring? 

A. Some of the things Mr. Alexander favored, it would be wild 
for others to follow, such as keeping so many colonies in one 
apiary, his special conditions favoring that; but as to the matter 
of weak colonies in spring, he has done the fraternity a real ser- 
vice. Care, however, must be taken. The first time I tried it the 
strong colony was at work inside of ten minutes fighting the weak 
one, and didn't stop till it made a finish. The colonies must be 
gently handled, so there will be no getting together till the upper 
colony has had time to get the scent of the lower, or else a wire- 
cloth must separate them for two or three days. 

Weight of Bees. — Q. How many bees in a pound? 
A. A pound of bees may contain from 4,000 to 5,500. 

Q. How much is the dovetailed hive, honey, comb, bees, etc., 
supposed to weigh just before putting them into the cellar? 

A. I want my 8-frame hives to weigh at least 50 pounds. Ten- 
frame hives ought to weigh ten pounds more. 

Willow-Herb. — Q. Is the willow-herb a cultivated plant, and 
would it pay to plant it for bees in Illinois? 

A. Willow-herb is a wild plant found especially abundant in 
the burnt-over timber lands of the northern states. It is found 
in large quantities in Michigan and neighboring states, where it 
yields a very light honey. The honey is said to have a very fine 
flavor. Willow-herb is also known as fireweed. 

Wind-Break. — Q. I have no wind-break or shade at home. 
Would it pay me to move my apiary 60 rods from home and 
have both ? 

A. It depends a little upon how much you care yourself for 
shade to work in, and how much, also, for the inconvenience of 
having them so much farther away. If you winter your bees in 
the cellar it would make no difference in wintering. It's a toss up 
which way you decide. Shade may be supplied by individual 
roofs on the hivi 

Winter-Cases. — Q. With a regular brood-chamber and a win- 
ter-ease made of seven-eighths inch lumber, is \]/ 2 inches on sides 
and ends and 8 inches on top, enough for safe wintering? 

A. Likely it will answer, although a greater space between 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 267 

walls is generally used; say two or three inches. But doubling the 
space between walls will by no means double the protection. 

Q. I am planning to build winter-cases 24x36 inches, each to 
hold two colonies. I also intend to leave the cases around the 
hives in the summer, as a protection from heat. Will the bees be- 
come confused and enter the wrong hive, or will queens returning 
from their mating trip be liable to enter the wrong hive? 

A. I suppose your idea is that bees or queens may be con- 
fused by having the two entrances in what seems to them the 
same building. I don't think there will be any trouble in that 
way. I have used double hives with entrances not six inches 
apart, and I don't think there was any more trouble than with 
separate hives. 

Winter Packing. — Q. Which is the best to put over the frames 
in winter, a solid board, a chaff cushion or a cloth, packing the 
super with leaves? 

A. The cushion for outdoor wintering; in a cellar it matters 
little which, if the cellar is all right and the hive has a large 
entrance. 

Q. I have always hesitated to remove the winter protection 
(chaff tray, etc.) in the early spring in order to examine colonies. 
As you advocate to take the bees out when maple is in bloom, 
would this also be a good signal to go by for removing the winter 
packing, or, if not, what would be? 

A. If you will look again you will see that it is the soft maple 
that usually gives the signal for taking bees out of a cellar. The 
hard maple blooms a little later. Taking bees out of a cellar is a 
different affair from taking away the wrappings of those that 
have been wintered outside. My bees have no wrappings after 
being brought out, but some think it pays to give them protection 
after that time. At any rate, if my bees were outdoors and well 
packed, I would hesitate about unpacking them at the time of ma- 
ple bloom unless I thought there was danger of their being short 
of stores, and even then it might be worth while to return the 
packing until about the time of fruit bloom. 

Winter Quarters, Removing From. — Q. How soon will it be 
safe to take out of their winter chaff-lined boxes and put on 
summer stands, bees that are in single-walled hives? (Iowa.) 

A. If the bees are not to have their stands changed, and can 
have a flight without removing any packing, it is better for the 
bees to have the warmth of the packing until it is fairly hot 
weather, say about the last of May in your region. 



268 dr. miller's 

Winter Stores. — Q. How much honey should I leave in each 
hive as a winter supply for the bees? 

A. A store of 30 or 40 pounds is none too much for wintering 
outdoors, a stronger colony needing more than a weaker one, and 
for cellaring, 10 pounds less will do. Better five pounds too 
much that five ounces too little. The overplus will not be wasted. 

Q. Are eight Langstroth frames full of honey enough to win- 
ter a strong colony of bees out-of-doors? I pack in leaves, three 
in a shed, six inches of space between each hive. 

A. Yes, less than eight frames; six would do if well filled. 

Q. Will the bees go through winter with as small an amount 
of honey as 15 or 20 pounds, when in the cellar? 

A. In some cases they would, but it would not be safe to 
risk it. 

Wintering. — Q. In preparing bees for winter, would it be best 
to leave the hive full of honey, or leave some empty combs for 
brood? 

A. 'Don't you worry about room for brood. The best you can 
dc at getting the brood-chamber filled with honey, no doubt there 
will be by spring plenty of room for brood, and the bees need no 
room for brood late in the fall. Some, however, think it better 
for them to have some empty cells to cluster on in winter, but 
they will have these emptied out in good time. 

Q. Will it be safe to winter bees on combs with nearly all 
cells partly full of honey, but little or no capped honey? 
A. Not very safe, but it might succeed. 

Wintering in a Building Without Flight Opportunities. — Q. I 

wintered my bees in the granary last winter, and of 19 colonies 
only 8 lived through the winter. They seemed to be troubled 
with dysentery, and the stuff they passed was one-quarter of an 
inch thick on top of the frames. The last 4 hours of the bees' lives 
they seemed to pass nearly a teaspoonful, and all of very bad 
odor. This winter I left them on the summer stands with these 
results : From 18 colonies all but 3 died of the same disease. The 
hives are full of nice looking honey. Would it be all right to put 
a colony of bees in these same hives without removing the honey? 
I have an idea that the sudden change in temperature caused the 
hives to become damp, and thus the disease. 

A. The likelihood is that the granary was too cold a place. A 
well ventilated cellar might give better results, being warmer. It 
is possible, also, that they were not packed warmly enough on the 
summer stands, especially on top. It is just possible, also, that 
the honey was at fault, but in that case it would likely be dark 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 269 

from honeydew. It will be all right to use these hives without 
removing' the honey. Even if it should be honeydew, the bees can 
stand that all right when flying daily. 

Wintering in a Building With Entrances Arranged for Flight. — 

Q. I have my bees in the attic, facing east, and it is so arranged 
that the temperature can be controlled during the winter months. 
During the most severe weather the past winter it has not been 
below 32 degrees, and never above 40 unless the weather out of 
doors was warm enough for them to have a flight. What would 
be the best temperature and cause them to consume the least 
amount of stores, with the hive-entrances open to the weather at 
all times as they are now? 

A. About 50 degrees, but there is a good deal of variation in 
thermometers. 

Wintering in Cellar. — Q. How many cubic feet per colony is 
required in cellar wintering? I am thinking of putting the bees 
indoors. 

A. Something like ten, including passage way. 

Q. In cellar-wintering, must it be dark in the cellar? 

A. Yes, unless the bees keep perfectly quiet in the light. 
When first put in the cellar they don't seem to mind the light 
much, but do a great deal toward spring. 

Q. In wintering bees in the cellar, do you leave the bottom- 
board off the hive for ventilation? 

A. My bottom-boards are left on ; but that still leaves abund- 
ant ventilation, for the space under bottom-boards is two inches, 
and the entrance is two inches deep and the whole width of the 
hive. If I had entrances not more than half an inch deep, I 
should want the hives blocked up or the bottom-boards taken 
away entirely. 

Q. Do you put on anything to keep out the rats and mice, if 
such enemies should come along, or will the bees take care of 
their combs and honey in such a case themselves? 1 think Prof. 
Cook says that he leaves the bottom-board on and the entrance 
wide open. 

A. I have done both ways. You may be sure the bees will not 
take care of themselves; rats and mice will make bad work if 
allowed undisputed possession. If you leave the hive-entrances 
open, in most cellars, you must keep up an unceasing warfare 
against rodents with traps and poison. You can bid defiance to 
the nuisances, however, by having the entrances closed with very 
coarse wire-cloth — three meshes to the inch. Even then you 



270 dr. miller's 

will have some trouble, for field mice will have entered some of 
the hives before being brought into the cellar. It is better, how- 
ever, to have a mouse confine its loving attention to one colony 
than to give it the free run of all. 

Q. Do you recommend sealed covers for cellar-wintering, the 
cellar being damp? 

A. I put my bees in the cellar with covers sealed down; but 

they have entrances full width two inches deep. With very small 

entrances there should be upward ventilation. 

Q. Do bees always keep on humming in the hives all winter 
when in the cellar,, in which the temperature is 45 degrees? If 
not, please tell me the cause. 

A. I believe some say their bees are found entirely quiet, but 
I think mine never are. A humming, more or less pronounced, 
may always be heard. They seem to go somewhat in waves, oc- 
casionally stirring up so as to make quite a little noise, but almost 
entirely quiet during the rest of the time. These periods of occa- 
sional waking up differ in different hives, so that when one stands 
to listen at the door of the bee-room there is a constant, gentle 
murmur, which I confess I rather enjoy hearing. 

Q. There is a continual hum in the hives, sometimes sufficient 
to be heard across the cellar. Is this too much noise to call it 
good behavior and, if so, what is the cause and remedy? Tem- 
perature of cellar is 35 degrees. 

A. Less noise would probably be better; but as cold as 35 de- 
grees they will make a good deal of noise to keep themselves 
warm. Can't you warm up the cellar in some way? Hot stones 
or jugs of hot water tightly corked might do. Even if occasion- 
ally to 45 degrees or more, it would help. 

Q. What difficulties may be expected from keeping bees in a 
damp cellar? How can these difficulties be overcome while the 
bees are in such a cellar? 

A. Diarrhea is likely to result if the temperature is not suf- 
ficiently high. Bees have been reported as wintering in the best 
condition in a very wet cellar when the cellar was kept warm 
enough and supplied well with fresh air. Obviously the thing 
to do is to raise the temperature sufficiently, and to see that 
there is a sufficient change of air. 

Q. What do you think of shutting bees in the cellar with 
wire-screen? I use a frame with wire-screen on both sides. I 
close up the entrance with two small nails and a strip of wood. 
1 use another strip to hold all together, instead of staples. 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 271 

A. I never tried it, but those who have tried it generally con- 
demn the practice. I remember especially E. D. Godfrey, of Iowa, 
who, years ago, suffered loss by it. When the bees find them- 
selves imprisoned, they make such a to-do as to stir up the whole 
colony. I have used wire-cloth at entrances in winter, but it was, 
of course, three meshes to the inch. 

Q. Do bees in the cellar change the location of their cluster 
during the winter? 

A. Bees do both ways, both in the cellar and out. Sometimes 
honey is carried from an outer comb, without changing the place 
of the cluster. Usually the cluster moves gradually backward or 
upward, as the bees eat their way into the full combs. 

Q. When bees are fed in the cellar at a temperature of about 
40 or 45 degrees, will the queen go to laying and hatching brood? 

A. Hardly, unless the feeding be kept up regularly for some 
time. 

Q. There is a whitish liquid running out of some of the hives 
in my cellar, and others have a dry substance like fine sawdust 
in front of the entrance. The hives from which the liquid comes 
seem to be wet inside and nasty. What is the cause of this? They 
have plenty of stores. 

A. The sawdust-looking material is the gnawings from the 
cappings and other debris, and indicates nothing wrong. The 
liquid is the moisture from the vapors condensing in the hive. 
Your cellar is too cold, and hive-entrances hardly large enough. 

Q. In American Bee Journal, R. H. Smith says the best tem- 
perature for wintering bees is 45 to 48 degrees above zero. If I 
remember rightly, all our best authorities agree on 42 to 45 de- 
grees for most successful wintering in cellars. I have one 
Standard barometer and three Fahrenheit thermometers. One of 
the latter is filled with quicksilver or mercury, and the others 
with colored fluids. I have all these in my cellar, and the varia- 
tion from the one that shows the highest to the one that shows 
the low T est, is 10 degrees. Upon which can I depend for the de- 
sired 42 to 45 degrees which is necessary for successful wintering 
of bees, as claimed by our best authorities? 

A. So you're up against that mixed matter of temperature in 
cellar. Latest investigations seem to show that the right tem- 
perature is about fifty or .fifty-five degrees. But, as you have found 
out, thermometers vary. You will also probably find that cellars 
vary, perhaps on account of the difference in dryness, perhaps for 
some other reason, so that if the same thermometer is used in two 
cellars, it may need to be higher in one than the other. I don t 



272 dx. miller's 

know which of your thermometers is best, and it doesn't make 
very much difference, although on general principles it's better to 
have it correct. But here is what you're to do : Take whichever 
thermometer you think best, and keep close watch until you find 
at what degree your bees are quietest, then keep your cellar as 
near that temperature as you can, whether it be 42, 45, 55, or some- 
thing else. The idea is to find at what temperature your bees are 
most quiet by your thermometer, in your cellar, no matter what 
authorities may say. 

Q. When in the spring is the right time to take bees out of 
the cellar? I can't find it in any of the beebooks. (Missouri.) 

A. It isn't an easy thing to say when is the right time to take 
bees out of the cellar, and I'd give a pretty penny to anyone who 
could tell me with- certainty the best time to take mine out this 
spring. There has been as much as a month difference between 
the earliest and the latest of my taking out, there being that dif- 
ference in seasons. There must be more or less guessing about it 
so long as one never knows in advance just what the weather is 
going to be. So long as they are in good condition in the cellar, 
and there is nothing for them to do outdoors, there's no hurry 
about taking them out. If you will watch the blooming of red 
maples, willows, or other trees upon which they work in your 
neighborhood, you will generally find it best to take them out at 
the time of such bloom, but not even then if the weather ap- 
pears unfavorable. So far south as you are — in Missouri, 39 de- 
grees — are you sure it is advisable to cellar bees at all? 

Q. We have had trouble about our bees rushing out when 
taken from the caves and cellars, all getting mixed, apparently, 
and when returning fill some of the hives full of bees and leave 
others badly weakened, so as to make it detrimental to the de- 
populated hives. Would a wet rag stuffed in the entrance be 
good, leaving only room for a few bees to pass in and out at 
once, or would simply closing the entrance almost entirely 
answer?- 

A. I confess to you that there are things connected with 
your question that 1 don't understand. Every year, for many 
years, I have taken out my bees with a rush, taking them out SO 
that all could have a flight that first day. Others say that when 
they do that, the bees swarm out and make lots of trouble, but 1 
have never had any serious trouble. Some say to take out a few 
each day. That would hardly work here, for when it comes time 
i< take bees out of the cellar there may not be two days in sue- 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 273 

cession fit to take them out. Indeed, the two good days may be 
several days apart. Possibly one reason for the difference lies 
in the condition of the bees. The night before mine are taken 
out, doors and windows are open to the widest, and all night long 
they have fresh air. So, when they are taken out they do not feel 
the change of air, and often they do not fly out of the hive at all 
for some minutes after being put on the stands. If taken out of 
the close air of the cellar when they are uneasy, they may get so 
excited that they will swarm out. 

A big rag made very wet is one of the best things to lay 
against the entrance when you want to keep bees in temporarily, 
but I doubt that it would help any in the case under considera- 
tion. I would rather have the bees so quiet that there is no need 
to fasten them in. Try giving them a tremendous airing the 
night before taking out. Contract the entrance immediately on 
setting the hive on its stand. 

Wintering Out-of-Doors. — Q. How is this for wintering bees : 
In the late fall, after the honey-flow is over, place a piece of bur- 
lap over the brood-frames and place a super filled with dry leaves 
on top of that? (Tennessee.) 

A. For your locality it would be hard to find anything better. 

Q. What is the best plan to adopt in an effort to winter bees 
on the summer stands? 

A. I would rather trust a single-walled hive in a protected 
place, sheltered by buildings or trees, than a double-walled hive 
fully exposed to the sweep of winds. If no other protection is at 
hand, go back to that of our grandfathers. Make a shed, under 
which the hives stand in a row, only a little higher than the hives, 
closed on all sides but the side of the entrances, and then pack 
straw in all the vacant space inside the shed. Even cornstalks 
piled about a hive, wigwam shape, produced quite good results 
with one man not five miles from us. 

Some have an outer case allowing a packing of leaves, planer 
shavings or other loose material about the hive to the extent of 
three or four inches on all sides and probably six inches on top. 
Others omit the packing-case and hold leaves in place by a frame 
ot coarse netting. 

Q. On account of my apiary being some distance from my cel- 
lar, I am thinking strongly of wintering outdoors. My bottom- 
boards are reversible with the deep side two inches. My hives 
are 10-frame dovetailed, (a) Should I use the deep side for win- 
ter? (b) How much of the entrance should be closed? 



274 dr. miller's 

(c) Would it be safe to wrap the hives with extra heavy 
tarred felt, with no other protection? (Wisconsin.) 

A. (a) Yes. (b) The equivalent of two or three square inches 
will probably do well where you are, the latter for a very strong 
colony. 

(c) Probably, but something depends upon the exposure of the 
situation. If exposed to the full force of the winds, it will be hard 
to wrap the hive warm enough, but in a situation well sheltered 
from the winds there will be little trouble. 

Q. Do those who winter bees on the summer stands need to 
scrape out the dead bees? 

A. It is better, of course, to have the dead bees cleaned out. 
With the usual shallow entrance, and shallow space under bot- 
tom-bars, it may be absolutely necessary; for the entrance, other- 
wise, may become entirely clogged with dead bees. With a deeper 
space under the bottom-bars, and entrance at the upper part of 
the space, cleaning out the dead bees is not so important. 

Wintering on Super-Combs. — Q. (a) I ran short of beehives 
and have about five swarms which I hived in shallow supers used 
for extracted honey. They have ten shallow frames. I wish to 
know what you would do with them, unite them with other 
swarms, or let them winter in these supers, and in the spring put 
them in the regular hive? 

(b) How would you go about it to put them in the regular 10- 
frame hive? 

A. (a) Unless they are weak and you want to unite them with 
other weaklings, better let them winter as they are. 

(b) In the spring set the shallow story over the regular hive, 
which should have frames filled with foundation. When brood 
appears in the lower story, put a queen-excluder between the two 
stories, making sure that the queen is in the lower story. Eight 
01 ten days later kill any queen-cells that may be in the upper 
story. 

Wintering in Two-Story Hives. — Q. A Tennessee beekeeper 
writes that he wintered most of his 180 colonies in two-story hives 
and he never had such strong colonies; some had 15 brood-frames. 
Why wouldn't that be the best way to do every winter? 

A. With very strong colonies the plan is excellent. 

Wiring Frames. — Q. Is it necessary to wire shallow extract- 
ing-frames when medium brood foundation is used? 

A. Hardly, especially if care be taken at the first extracting, 



THOUSAND ANSWERS 275 

emptying one side only partly, reversing and extracting the other 
side, and again reversing to empty the first side. 

Q. If I wire the shallow 6-inch frames, can I use extra thin 
surplus foundation in them? How many wires ought I to put in, 
and where should they be? 

A. I fear you could not use extra-thin without four or five 
wires. You could probably use thin surplus foundation with two 
horizontal wires, one two inches below the top-bar and the other 
one and one-half to two inches lower. 

Q. Is it necessary for frames to be wired? 
A. Not absolutely necessary, but better, to have the combs 
strengthened by being supported by wires or foundation splints. 

Q. Is vertical wiring as good as horizontal? If not, why not: 
A. That depends. If top and bottom-bars are sufficiently 
rigid, vertical wiring is as good or better. With vertical wiring, 
the wire must be drawn tightly, and unless a bar of some kind is 
in the center to hold top and bottom apart, the bottom-bar will 
be curved upward, and if the top-bar be not pretty thick it will 
sag. 

Q. What do you think of using wire from baled hay or straw 
in place of your wooden splints in brood-frames? 

A. Such heavy wire would be objectionable. Only very fine 
wire is used in wiring frames. 

Worms in Bees. — Q. Sometimes when I take off the lid there 
is a worm crawling on the underside of the lid about an inch long 
and one-fourth inch thick, gray color. Can that be some of the 
larvae that got out of some cell, or is it some other prowling 
stock? 

A. That worm is not an escaped larva from one of the cells 
of brood, but "prowling stock" of another sort. It is the larva 
of the wax-worm, which destroys combs when they are not prop- 
erly protected by the bees. These prowlers are not worth mind- 
ing in strong colonies, or those of good Italian stock, but when a 
queenless colony is on hand, especially a weak black one, these 
moth larvae finish up, like a lot of crows about a carrion. (See 
Beemoth.) 

Worker-Bees. — Q. Can workers lay? 

A. Not as a rule; but when a colony has been queenless a 
long time they may undertake the business, and then we have the 
pest called drone-laying workers. (See Laying W T orkers.) 



276 dr. miller's 

Q. How many days from the time the worker hatches until it 
goes to gather honey? 

A. It is generally understood that a worker goes afield when 
16 days old. But the wise little creatures know how to adapt 
themselves to circumstances without following any rigid rule. 
One time I had a valuable queen to introduce. Over a strong col- 
ony I put an empty hive, with wire-cloth between the two stories. 
In the empty hive I put frames of sealed brood with young bees 
just ready to emerge, but not a bee. I put in the queen and 
closed up tight, so no bee could get in or out. Five days later I 
gave a very small entrance, and the bees flew. A little later some 
of the bees returned with loads of pollen. Those babies, only 5 
days old, were doing work that under ordinary circumstances 
they would not have done until three times as old. So in the 
economy of the hive while bees generally go afield when 16 days 
old, the likelihood is that they accommodate themselves to cir- 
cumstances. If conditions are such that there is an unusual need 
o^ nurses, some of the bees may not go afield until considerably 
more than 16 days old, and vice versa. 

Yellow Jackets. — Q. I notice yellow jackets entering some of 
my hives. Do you think they are doing mischief? The bees do 
not seem to notice them. 

A. They're probably after honey, and are not likely to get off 
scot-free. 

Yields of Honey. — Q. Is 100 pounds per colony an average, or 
toward the maximum yield? 

A. Hardly one or the other. One-third of that amount is 
nearer the average yield of comb honey, and half of that for ex- 
tracted, while a maximum annual average might go to 150 or more. 
I* must not be forgotten that the yield sometimes is less than 
nothing; that is, no surplus is taken and the bees have to be fed 
to keep them alive. 



